F

Fixture:

Friday at 7.45pm

Premier A

Killarney Celtic v Dingle Bay Rovers

(Celtic Park)

Killarney Celtic are back in league action this weekend as they face Dingle in a fixture that could have major ramifications for all the teams in contention at the top end of the Kerry Premier A.

Celtic are currently in second place, three points behind neighbours Athletic with four games in hand. Dingle are level on 22 points with Celtic and have three games in hand on the leaders so this tie is a real six-pointer. From Athletic’s point of view, it’s probably better if Celtic win. If they run away in first, we’ll have a better chance of catching Dingle and sneaking into second. We still have to play both teams.

Dingle will be hoping to make amends for the reverse fixture in September when Celtic spanked them 7-0 in Gallarus. The 2016 champions have won every game since then, though, and were very impressive that day against us when they played us off the pitch.

Paudie Quinn and Seán Fitzgerald are very dangerous up front and they have some nice ballers like Luke Burgess and Joe Sheehy in midfield.

Just a brief sidenote, it was surprising to see them pick up a walkover against Listowel last week. It’s really disappointing that a club as big as Listowel couldn’t field a team for a home game, especially considering how good they are. They took points off us and Dingle in their first two games and people were talking about them possibly contending for the title.

It’s especially frustrating for us because we need Dingle to drop points but look, it’s not Dingle’s fault. I’m sure they would rather have beaten Listowel on the pitch. We benefited from walkovers last year as well so we can’t complain. It’s just sad.

Anyway. Both Celtic and Dingle have plenty of goals in them so it could be a serious game on Friday night.

Celtic will possibly be slight favourites coming off the back of their resounding win over Southend United in the quarter final of the Munster Junior Cup. It was the second time in a month that the Hoops travelled to Ozier Park following their 2-1 extra time victory over Waterford Crystal in the last round. Last weekend’s result was even more emphatic as they ran out 3-0 winners against a strong Southend side. Gary Keane, Peter McCarthy and Chris O’Leary found the target for the visitors.

It certainly won’t get any easier for Celtic in this competition because the standard is really, really high. Janesboro are already in the hat for the semi-finals and two of Newmarket Celtic, St Michael’s, Carrick United B and Pike Rovers will be joining them. Celtic’s track record, both home and away, speaks for itself, however, so they won’t fear anyone in the next round.