Kerry FC are still without a home win in the SSE Airtricity League First Division after a 6-0 defeat against Wexford.
The visitors saw Aaron Dobbs net 4 times, while Danny Furlong scored twice.
Kerry FC manager Billy Dennehy
The game started off a close affair with a couple of chances for both sides. The first chance came for the visitors after just three minutes. A good piece of dribbling out on the right wing from Reece Webb who found the space to put a dangerous cross into the box was headed just over by Danny Furlong. After Wexford’s opening opportunity, Kerry struggled to create much but were
competing to the best of their ability. Wexford had been shut down a bit since their opening chance and Kerry were starting to create a few chances of their own.
Kerry’s first chance came just after the twenty-minute mark, it started with a breakaway from inside their own half from Nathan Gleeson who carried the ball up the pitch. Gleeson backheeled it inside to Sean McGrath who took his shot from some distance, and it unfortunately sailed over the bar.
Kerry were on top for this five-minute period of the game and another opportunity came for the Kingdom this time at the fault of Wexford goalkeeper, Noel Heffernan who’s kickout was misplaced and landed straight to the feet of Sean McGrath. McGrath played the ball to his right to Nathan Gleeson who was running onto it and his effort just got away from him and went wide of the right post.
Despite the bit of pressure from the home side, it would be the traveling team who would take the lead. A cross from the right side of the box from Aaron Dobbs bobbled through and somehow made its way to the back post to Danny Furlong who was all alone to slot it away and put Wexford 1-0 up.
Things would worsen for the Kingdom as they would go 2-0 down just eight minutes later. A good piece of passing play from Danny Furlong and Aaron Dobbs which saw a one-two create a bit of space for Dobbs to get a shot off and it slowly trickled into the bottom right corner of the Kerry FC goal passing Aaron O’Sullivan. Kerry would have a big mountain to climb to get back
into this in the second half.
Wexford started the second half as they finished the first. Just four minutes after the restart, a long pass up the pitch was headed wayward by Sam Aladesanusi back towards his own goal and into Danny Furlong who hit the ball on the half-volley and flew past Aaron O’Sullivan to make it 3-0. Kerry were showing shades of their second-half performance from last week. They had completely gone into their shell again and were finding it extremely hard to get out of their own half.
This was evident again just ten minutes later when Wexford made it four. A corner for Wexford was taken by James Crawford on the right side. His low precise cross was met by a near post flick from Aaron Dobbs who at this stage was on for a hattrick. Wexford continued to mount pressure on Kerry and showed no signs of stopping even though the game was done and dusted. The fifth went in with just eighteen minutes remaining to increase humiliation on the home team. A pass into the path of Graham O’Reilly was dispossessed by Aaron Dobbs who had all the time in the world to place it past O’Sullivan and seal his hattrick.
Kerry had a couple of slight opportunities later in the game with fresh legs on the pitch from the likes of Kennedy Amechi and Stephen McCarthy entering the pitch, but this was only allowed by a very well set up Wexford side who had taken the foot off the gas with the game essentially finished.
Just before the referee on the night Marc Lynch could blow the final whistle, Wexford would add another. Substitute Conor Levingston whipped in a corner again from the right side and was met by Aaron Dobbs once again who scored his fourth of the night and really put the final nail in the coffin. After that goal, time was called, and it finished 6-0 to Wexford FC Kerry are back on the road next week as they make the long trip to Donegal to take on Finn Harps. They will need to put this heavy defeat behind them quickly to really move on and sure up the back line again. A trip to Donegal will be a tough one, but a game that they need to get
right.
KERRY FC TEAM: 30. AARON O’SULLIVAN, 2. ROB VASIU, 18. SAMUEL ALADESANUSI, 15. KEVIN WILLIAMS (C), 23. RONAN TEAHEN, 17. NATHAN
GLEESON, 22. CIAN BARRETT, 13. TOGOR SILONG, 10. LEO GAXHA, 9. RYAN KELLIHER, 7. SEAN MCGRATH. SUBS: CALLAN SCULLY, STEPHEN MCCARTHY, MATT KEANE, ALEX AINSCOUGH, CIANAN COONEY, GRAHAM O’REILLY, KENNEDY AMECHI.
WEXFORD FC TEAM: 18. NOEL HEFFERNAN, 3. BENJAMIN LYNCH, 6. ETHAN BOYLE (C), 8. BRANDON MCCANN, 10. AARON DOBBS (GOAL ‘40, ‘59, ‘72, ‘90), 11. MARK HANRATTY, 13. JAMES CRAWFORD, 15. DANNY FURLONG (GOAL ‘32 ‘49), 16. CORBAN PIPER, 17. KIAN CORBALLY, 20. REECE WEBB.
SUBS: COLM COX, DARRAGH LEVINGSTON, HUGH DOUGLAS, KARL CHAMBERS, MATTHEW DUNNE, CONOR LEVINGSTON
2 Kerry FC underage sides play today.
14s at home to CK United @ 2 in Eddie Wallace Cup.
17s away to Cobh @ 3 in Mark Farren Cup.
Elsewhere last night Galway extended their lead at the top of the First Division table after a 3-1 victory at home to Athlone.
Treaty United suffered a 3-0 defeat at home to Finn Harps and Bray and Cobh finished 2-2.
In the Premier Shamrock Rovers went down to 8 men as they were beaten 1-0 by Cork.
St Pats beat Dundalk 2-1, Drogheda beat UCD 3-1 and Bohemians and Shelbourne played out a 0-0 draw.
This evening, there is one game down for decision in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.
Derry City can extend their lead at the top of the table with a victory over Sligo Rovers.
Kick off at the Showgrounds is at 7:45pm.
Shamrock Rovers missed the chance to leapfrog Derry after they were beaten 1-0 by Cork City last night.
Elsewhere, Waterford can close the gap on runaway First Division leaders Galway United with a win over Longford Town.
There's a 7:30pm kickoff in Bishopsgate.
There's also action in the Women's National League this afternoon.
There's a Dublin Derby at Tolka Park with Shelbourne taking on Peamount United at 2pm.
At 4pm, DLR Waves face Bohemians.
An hour later Wexford Youths travel to Cork City with Shamrock Rovers and Galway United clashing at 5:30pm.
The late game this evening sees Athlone Town face off against Treaty United at 7pm.
