Tralee derby to decide destination of 1A title
DENNY DIVISION 1A FINAL
Mitchels Avenue v Tralee Celtic
Sunday July 2 Mounthawk Park at 11.30am
THE last league final of the season is down for decision at Mounthawk Park next Sunday morning when Mitchels Avenue and Tralee Celtic meet in the Division 1A Final in the big Tralee local derby.
Amazingly Mitchels Avenue’s are bidding for their fourth successive league title which is a phenomenal achievement.
Both sides have been very impressive during the season with Mitchels Avenue qualifying with plenty to spare while Tralee Celtic had to wait till their final game to clinch a place in the final being pushed all the way by Castlegregory.
Mitchels Avenue have a chance of lifting four titles this season as they through to the semi-final of the Greyhound Bar Cup while they are also in the semi-final of the Dominos Pizza Cup and the Tommy Healy Cup.
They will go into the game as favourites and not surprisingly as they are one of the best sides in the KDL and it wont be very long before they will be up playing in Premier A as will Tralee Celtic.
They are a side with a great work ethic and play with great passion and pride.
They are strong in all departments of play and score a lot of goals every season.
They have acquired some very skilful players in recent seasons and now the fruits of their efforts is paying dividends and they will be very difficult to beat.
Tralee Celtic have a very formidable panel of players also and there will be very keen competition for places in the starting line up.
Remarkably they have been promoted in the last four consecutive seasons coming from Division 2B and now heading into Premier B next season.
They have a good mix of young and experienced players and it is a recipe that has brought them very consistent results all season.
If Mitchels Avenue are going to lift the title they will require Chris Hegarty to be at his best between the posts.
They are very strong defensively with David Hennessy running the show at centre half and he has a strong panel of assistants to choose from in Peter Murphy, Chris O’Sullivan, Liam O’Sullivan, James O’Sullivan, Danny O’Shea and Robert Lynch.
They are spoiled for choice at midfield with Graham O’Leary, Lorcan Seymour, Scott Hennessy, Robert Damien Breen, Emeka Sheeznerio and Robert O’Sullivan all excellent players who always put in a good shift.
Up front they will be relying on Brendan Coffey and Nathan O’Leary to goggle up any scoring chance they get.
Others in the mix for selection include Ruairi Keane, Craig Locke, Zidane Algers, Mark O’Sullivan. Robert O’Sullivan so the management team of David Hennessy and Barry O’Sullivan will have a difficult task picking a team from that talented bunch of players.
Meanwhile Tralee Celtic boss Derek O’Connor also has some soul searching to engage in having to pick a starting line up from a 23 man panel of players.
Celtic have an excellent custodian in Dermot Raggett, while in front of him he has a strong defenders in Barry Leahy Gary Moriarty, Derek O’Connor, James O’Mahony, Stephen O’Sullivan.
They have strong and creative midfielders in Fiachra Dunne, Stevie O’Mahoney, Fergal Moynihan, Con Barrett, Michael Prendivile, and Aidan O’Sullivan while up front Jordan Murphy and Fergal
Denny Youth League
Listowel Celtic 3-0 Fenit Samphires Moynihan have a good striking partnership which yielded a lot of goals during the season.
Others in contention for a place in the team include, Daire Dunne, Brian O’Sullivan, Craig Sheehy, Greg Powell, Alan O’Donoghue, Graham Higgins, Trevor Murphy, and Jamie Blake.
Looking at both panels of players I would say that Tralee Celtic have the stronger squad but will they be able to subdue the great team spirit and passion of Mitchels Avenue who are bidding for four titles this season.
I am sure if they had a choice this would be the one they would choose to win.
It should be a very tight game that will go down to the wire with Mitchels Avenue tipped to take the laurels.