By Sean Moriarty

Win or lose on Sunday, the Kerry football team will be assured of a gala welcome home on Monday night.

A special homecoming event is being planned for Fitzgerald Stadium from around 9pm on Monday.

This is a break from tradition as previous homecomings took place in the Glebe Car Park on College St.

Staying with tradition, the team will visit the county town of Tralee first from around 6pm on Monday, where up to 10,000 people are expected on Denny St should Jack O’Connor’s men be successful against Galway on Sunday.

The Tralee event is expected to last until about 800pm when the team will be transferred by coach to Killarney.

The new venue, which includes the construction of a new stage for the occasion, will accommodate 40,000 fans according to GAA chiefs in the country.

The event will include live DJs and music ahead of the arrival of the team.

The Killarney Advertiser understands that the main reason the venue was changed was the unavailability of the Glebe car park.

This year’s All Ireland Football final is being played in July for the first time as opposed to the traditional September date.

The tourist season is in full flight, Bird’s Funfair are still in town and are in residence in the Fair Hill car park.

New health and safety regulations and connected red tape also forced the County Board’s hands when it came to planning the homecoming celebration.

“This could be the way forward,” county board chairman and Dr Crokes GAA club member Patrick ‘Tatler’ O’Sullivan told the Killarney Advertiser.

“[As a county board] our main priority was the needs of the team and players, a separate team are looking after the homecoming, they worked with the Gardai and did all the safety statements. Kerry is unusual in that we have to have two separate homecomings – one in Tralee and one in Killarney – and there is a lot of planning in deciding who gets where and at what time.”

Looking ahead to the big game Patrick said: “It is in the hands of the gods, hopefully they will be shining down on us on Sunday.”