The Kingdom conclude the first-half of the 2026 campaign in ninth place despite high pre-season expectations.
Colin Healy’s side were predicted by many to firmly contest for one of the four play-off spots. Taking big names like Cian Murphy, Jonas Häkkinen and Cian Bargary off of rivals Cobh Ramblers, as well as bringing in the experienced Killian Cantwell and Vincent Borden.
Though the previous First Division season had ended disappointingly, the season ending in October and Kerry’s last league win coming in August, some solace was found in an FAI Cup run that went as far as the semi-finals.
And yet, little to no overall progression has been made. Kerry FC finished the 2025 campaign in 9th and at the midpoint of 2026, they sit in that very same position.
Early Season Form
Despite taking the lead in the first outing of the season, Kerry would be overturned and come away with nothing from the UCD bowl. The inability to hold onto a lead would be both a frustrating and repetitive feature of the early season performances.
Cillian Tollett would score minutes after coming on for Athlone Town in The Kingdom’s first home match of the season, a second successive defeat.
Form then began to pick-up, four games, three draws and one win. In all four of these games Kerry took the lead, in three of these they were pegged back, twice against Treaty United. In the fourth game of this run, Cian Murphy’s first-half strike was enough to finally secure a first win of the campaign, at home to Finn Harps.
Story of The Season So Far
The inability to hold onto leads is by no means something that has only applied in 2026, it has been an ever present theme since the Tralee based outfit joined the First Division set-up in 2023. That can be a reason as to why it has been so frustrating for Kerry FC fans, an experienced manager who has been backed in bringing in experienced players has struggled to fix these faults.
The excuse of a team consisting of young, inexperienced players no longer applies. New faces have been brought in and even those who have been involved since the start have played enough to have gained experience, Cian Brosnan the latest name to reach the 100 appearance mark.
In response, Colin Healy has tweaked the system in recent weeks and improvements are clear both in performances and results.
Ironiacily, the biggest game changer has been an 18 year-old with very little experience.
Congratulations to Cian Brosnan, who becomes the 4th player to reach the 100 appearance mark for the club.
With us from the very start #WeAreKerryFC pic.twitter.com/I7wChLr4nP
— Kerry Football Club (@KerryFC) May 29, 2026
Key Turning Point
Healy has been forced to use three goalkeepers so far this season, Harry Halwax, Harvey Magnan, and Matt Connor. The latter featured in the first two matches of the season, replaced by Halwax, who was then replaced by 19 year-old Magnan.
Praise deserves to be given to the young goalkeeper for his performances, saving a penalty in the Munster Senior Cup semi-final defeat to Cork City. However, when Matt Connor returned to the XI, Kerry FC began to hit form.
Connor put in some top performances, in his return match he kept a cleansheet against Athlone Town in a scoreless draw, making eight saves. Then, three days later, he kept another cleansheet in a win over league leaders Cork City.
His return to the starting eleven coincided with a switch to a back four, Niall Brookwell now playing in midfield opposed to centre-back. This gave Kerry more control and made them look significantly more compact.
The goals were coming from Ryan Kelliher, who had been building fitness after close to a year out with a knee injury. The Kingdom’s all time leading scorer was sharing the spotlight with on loan Shamrock Rovers winger Matthew Britton.
Britton came off the bench against UCD to score an equaliser late on. A few weeks later, he again came off the bench to score the winner against Wexford and scored two off the bench the following week in a draw with Bray Wanderers. Kerry are five games without defeat at Mounthawk Park, the 18 year-old has scored in three of those.
Second Half Outlook
Football is a simple game, if draws are turned into wins the nine point gap between 9th place Kerry and 5th place Wexford becomes smaller, and the preseason playoff predictions will come to fruition.
With the sizeable financial backing the club has, Summer additions can be expected.
At the midpoint of their fourth League of Ireland First Division season, improvements are no longer hoped for, they’re demanded.