SEAN MCGRATH: 'There are people who live for Friday night in Mounthawk Park... ' | Building the LOI community in Kerry, and the pressure of improving again in 2026
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How did Kerry FC perform in the 2025 season?
off the ball rugby then all we'll never know until we play we know on the evidence of play well for your province play well in Europe play well in the URC consistently back it up for a couple four five six matches and then people go give it a go join in the obsession subscribe now at offtheball.com forward slash join
Yeah, good. Really excited for the new campaign ahead and can't wait to get going.
How much are you looking to build on from last season? I think of that FAI Cup run and how much that meant to the fans and the community in Kerry. To build on that now must be the main goal, is it?
100%. Look, we had a good run in the FAI Cup getting to the semi-finals, knocking out Sligo and Cove and a lot of good teams along the way. But it's important this year we build on that and bring that form into the league and keep progressing up the table.
I've been waiting to ask you this question ever since the end of last season but it's so strange the fact that if you think back to the League of Ireland campaign and that first division game where you were against Wexford and Ferry Carrick and you score a hat-trick at half-time and then they come back and win 4-3 and then you almost do the complete opposite to Sligo in the FA Cup of being down and then coming back to win 4-3 like what is it like to be on both those sides of that coin?
Yeah I suppose look that was my 100th game as well for Kerry FC and I scored a hat-trick in the first half and thought we were cruising and we were out of there but We ended up losing the game 4-3, which was obviously hugely disappointing, but to go and turn that around and do it to Sligo and knock Sligo out in the FA Cup was a lot more special for me and for the team. But that's football, isn't it? It's mad, it's upside down, you never know what's going to happen.
I mean, if you look at the way the Kerry project has been progressing year on year, are you feeling that growing support in the community now each year as you get back out on the pitch?
What are Sean McGrath's ambitions for the 2026 season?
Oh, it is 100%. Look, there's people that live for the Friday night up in Montauk. They love to get up there and even travel away. There's lots of fans now that have been... It's every way around in the league, you know, and they're there to support us. They never want, you know, getting on our back, giving out about us. They're always supporting us.
I suppose even if you look at, like, if you see it on LOITV, if you can, you see the carry support, they almost outnumber some of the home supporters sometimes. It just shows how big of an appetite there is for a soccer team like yourselves down there, isn't it?
Oh, 100%. Even the FAO Cup semi-final game in Tallaght, they were very, very loud. Look, Shamrock Rovers beat us comfortably that day, but they sang from minute one to minute 90, whatever it was. And even after the round of applause, everything, that sums them up. They're excellent. They're good people and they're an unbelievable fan base.
How important was the FAI Cup run for Kerry FC's community?
Do you feel like there's a bit of added pressure on yourselves this season now having gone that far and the Cup people know you can do it and you need to get back there or how do you approach something like that because it could be a bit easy to get a bit I suppose overwhelmed by the thought that everyone is now rating you a lot higher than maybe they would have been before?
Yeah, look, pressure is always going to be there, but we know we have to perform, we know we have to do better in the league. We knew we had it in us when we beat Sligo, we do have it in us, it's just bringing it out more consistently and over a longer period of time, that's what we need to do and hopefully we can do that this year.
On episode two of Richie McCormick's Sliding Doors podcast, the stories behind the transfers that almost happened, but just about didn't, focuses on one of the greatest of all time, Pele. Pele. Va-va, back to Pele. Now what's he going to do? He's got the third! Oh, beautiful goal! And how the Santos superstar nearly swapped Brazil for Hanover. And how a Nazi ice machine salesman nearly pulled the deal off.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
How did Kerry FC perform in the 2025 season?
0:00–1:43
2
What are Sean McGrath's ambitions for the 2026 season?
1:43–2:29
3
How important was the FAI Cup run for Kerry FC's community?
2:29–5:05
4
What challenges does Kerry FC face in the First Division?
5:05–6:01
5
How does the fan support impact Kerry FC's performance?
6:01–7:01
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from OTB Football
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