Kildare County vs Limerick 37

• David Byrne
• Fri, Sep 05 2008




Kildare County host fifth placed Limerick 37 at Station Road on Friday (Kick-off 7:45p.m) as they look to secure a victory which could take them off the bottom of the First Division.

Limerick have won their last two games and Mike Kerley’s young side will be full of confidence after a fantastic performance against Dundalk last Friday night at Jackman Park.

Meanwhile, Kildare are also in a good run of form in the League which has seen them pick up wins against Longford and Wexford in the past few weeks. Last week, a respectable home draw against high-flying Sporting Fingal will give John Gill’s side a boost going into Friday’s game.

John Gill has recognised the difficult task ahead of his players on Friday night “The players are still hurting after the defeat in Jackman Park on Independence day. The game against Limerick always brings back memories of County’s first ever game in the Eircom League, however although we won that first game our record against Limerick is good but our record against Limerick 37 is poor.” Kildare will be looking to gaining revenge as Limerick inflicted a heavy 4-0 defeat the last time these two sides met.

Mike Kerley’s side are destined to finish fifth this season but that does not take away from his sides determination and motivation going into the remaining League fixtures as Limerick build for next season. Speaking to the Limerick Leader, midfielder Dave Ryan speaks of the bright future “Our average age is probably 19 or 20. If we stick together then I think we will push for promotion and be up there with the Dundalks and the Shels”

Kildare County Team News: John Ryan has Philly Hughes available again after suspension and also added to his squad is Gregg Kilkenny who was not available last week.

Limerick 37 Team News: Mike Kerley welcomes back the exciting Jason Hughes and Thomas Lyons after they were unavailable last week. The influential Tommy Barrett is expected to miss the game through a reoccurring injury which had forced him to be substituted against Dundalk last Friday. Goalkeeper Brian Collopy also misses the trip to Kildare with a hamstring injury.

Extratime Prediction: Limerick are bookies favourites at evens, with Kildare at 11/5 to win and a draw at 11/5. Despite these odds, Kildare have put a decent run of results together recently and they are well capable of picking up some very important points but Limerick’s strength should see them pick up all three points in a close game. We think that this game is likely to end in a low scoring away win, 1-2.