The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Camp is united in name and by nature
CAMP United is a small rural West Kerry Club who have been punching above their weight in the KDL for the past quarter of a century.
Their location puts them at a disadvantage as they have a lot of travelling to do to fulfil their fixtures every season but they have taken it all in their stride over the years and take very game as it comes.
Despite having a much smaller pool of players to draw from than the big guns in the KDL they have clearly shown they can match the best of teams in the county on their day and have a nice collection of silverware won since the formation of the club.
There is keen competition for players in the Dingle Peninsula as other local clubs include Dingle Bay Rovers, Castlegregory and CS Clochain Breannainn.
Annascaul and Inch also had a club in recent years but that folded after a few seasons.
Camp Juniors look after the underage side of the game in the area and they cater for the underage needs of neighbouring clubs as well at Camp United.
The Camp United club was founded in 1970/’71 by Dennis Crean and entered the Kerry District League Cup competitions as a non-league side.
Camp’s first success came in 1985 when they won the Tralee Inter-Firm Tournament under the name of Camp Construction.
This win gave the game in the area a huge boost and talks about entering a team in the KDL was gathering momentum.
The decision was made to join the Kerry District League in 1994 and under the leadership of Brendan McCormack, Bingo O’Driscoll and Clement Crean they quickly played their winning ways through all the divisions until they reached the top-flight of Kerry soccer which was a remarkable achievement.
They reached the Greyhound Bar Cup Final in 1994 and faced a very formidable Tralee Dynamos side who were the top team in the KDL at the time.
The final went to a replay and after this also ended deadlocked after extra-time it went to a penalty shoot-out. Tralee Dynamos won the shoot-out.
These games attracted the biggest crowds ever seen at a soccer match in the area.
They held their own comfortably in Premier A for a few season’s and were able to match all the top teams in the division.
They were relegated to Premier B a couple of seasons ago but recovered quickly end ended up top of the table last season after a very impressive season.
In any other league the team at the top of the table at the end of the season are champions but not in Kerry as they have the ridiculous situation that the top two teams meet in the final.
They met Killorglin in the decider and lost 2-0 but they are promoted and will play in Premier A when the new season kicks off.
The West Kerry side have lost many players over the years through immigration but they continue with their promotion of the game and are happy with the way the club is progressing.
In the early days Brendan McCormack, Genie Farrell, Bingo O’Driscoll, Johnny O’Driscoll and later Arian O’Donnell were the men who done all the hard graft behind the scenes and build up
a squad that done the club proud over the years.
The club secured some high profile players from Annascaul and Dingle Bay Rovers last season which has strengthened their squad considerably and they should be able to hold their own in the top-flight of Kerry soccer.
The club’s proudest moment came in 2002 when they won the Greyhound Bar Cup with the team captained by the legendary Adrian O’Donnell.
They always excelled in cup competitions and won the Senators Windows Cup in 1996, the Reserve Cup in 1999 and the Golf Hotel Cup in 2007.
They were runner-up in the Greyhound Bar Cup in 2000 and lost the Premier A Final in 2002.
While the club does not have its own underage structure all of their young players play with Camp Juniors which is a separate Club which caters for all the clubs in the West Kerry Peninsula area.