Treaty United come from behind to beat 10-man Kerry

An early second-half red card for Kerry goalkeeper Matt Connor was costly

Robbie Lynch scored the winning goal for Treaty United against Kerry. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Jason Oyenuga and Robbie Lynch's goals helped Treaty United come from behind to beat 10-man Kerry FC at the Markets Field on Friday evening for their first win since mid-May.

Cian Murphy gave Kerry FC the lead from the penalty spot midway through the first half after Daniel Okwute was fouled in the box, and it’s hard to say it wasn’t deserved as Kerry dominated the opening 45 minutes of the tie.

Just two minutes into the second half, though, Matt Connor rushed out of his box and was beaten to the ball by Cian Curtis, who was subsequently wiped out by the Kerry keeper, leaving the referee no choice but to produce a red card.

Treaty United suddenly had a new lease of life, and midway through the second half, Curtis provided the assist for substitute Oyenuga, who found the bottom left corner with a well-taken strike.

Six minutes from time, the home side got the winner. Once again, it involved a substitute as Ben Lynch crossed from the left wing towards the back post and found the head of Robbie Lynch, who was not deterred by a miss from a similar position moments earlier, this time picking out the bottom left-hand corner to secure the points.

There was a point at half-time where results around the league had Colin Healy’s men sitting inside the play-off positions, and they looked like they were heading for a record fourth successive league win against a poor Treaty United side.

However, the red card to their keeper altered not just this game but potentially the course of both these sides' seasons. Kerry will now be without arguably their best player this season for the huge trip to Wexford next weekend and potentially the FAI Cup clash with Shelbourne.

Late in the first half, the home supporters were calling for the resignation of long-term manager Tommy Barrett, albeit tensions were high due to what they felt was an extremely harsh penalty decision which went against them as Okwute was awarded the spot kick in the first half, but by the end of the 90 minutes, the Markets Field was rocking, having ended a run of six games without a win in the league, and five without a win over their opposition on the night.

Elsewhere in the First Division, Finn Harps and Bray Wanderers had 1-0 home victories over Wexford and Athlone, respectively. 

Kerry FC: Connor; Aladesanusi (Britton 88), Brookwell, Hakkinen, O’Connell; Lee, Borden (Healy 88); Brosnan (Bargary 57), Perez (Mangan 49), Okwute (Palmer 57); Murphy.

Treaty United: Brady; Yoro (Feeney HT), R Lynch, Nwankwo, Foley, Doherty (B Lynch 64); Murphy, Healy (Lawlor 82); Byrne (Oyenuga 64), Curtis, Manning (Whelan 64).

Referee:

Oliver Moran