Killarney up against it on long away trip

FAI JUNIOR CUP SIXTH ROUND (LAST 32) Buncranna Hearts v Killarney Celtic Sunday, February 2 Castle Park, Buncrana at 1pm

KILLARNEY Celtic make the marathon journey to the Innisowen peninsula in Donegal this weekend where they play Buncrana Hearts in the last 32 of the FAI Junior Cup. They face an over 600 mile round trip and they are organising an overnight stay in Donegal on Saturday night which will ensure they will be fresh for the big game on Sunday.

The Donegal side created a big shock in the competition when they beat formidable

Dublin side Rosemount Mulvey 1-0 in the last 64 game. An 86th minute goal won the game for the Donegal side.

They are not going too well in the Donegal league losing four of their six games and are second last in the Premier table at present.

Of course that will count for little in this game as they have already put a number of big clubs to the sword in their path to the last 32 and with home advantage they will be very difficult to beat.

Celtic have had a very easy passage in the national competition so far. In the second round they had a facile 11-0 win over Desmond League side Shannonside, and in the third round they beat Clare side Coole FC 5-0. Desmond League side Grannagh United were their opponents in the fourth round, who they beat 3-1, before facing Dublin side St Kevin’s Boys in Round 5, winning 5-1.

Celtic will probably go into the game as outsiders but big cup games often throw up surprise results and Killarney Celtic know all about that as they made their exit from the Munster Junior Cup a few weeks ago surprisingly losing to Tralee Dynamos.

That result will be put to the back of their minds going into this game and they will only have one mission in mind and that is to win the game. Celtic have no injury worries going into the game and manager Brian Spillane will have his side highly motivated for the big showdown.

He has done his homework on their opponents and will focus on exploiting their weaknesses and try to curb their strengths. If they come away with a win the marathon journey back will be very enjoyable but if they lose it will be a depressing journey, while they will go into the game as underdogs they are well capable of coming away with a win if they play up to scratch.

The club is organising a supporters bus for the game (if sufficient numbers are interested in travelling), so anyone interested in attending should contact Paul Sherry or Brian Spillane straight away.

A bit of interesting information from my good friend Edmond Hartnett of Castleisland AFC tells me that Castleisland are the only other Kerry side that had to travel to play a Donegal side in the FAI Junior Cup.

In the 2010/ 211 season they drew St Catherine’s from Killybegs in the last 64. With the game tied after extra time they won in penalty shoot- out. St Catherine’s were Republic of Ireland player Seamus Coleman’s first club.

Players on the Castleisland squad for that big game included Shane O’Loughlin, Aidan O’Callaghan and the two Mike McCarthys.