McCarthy: 'We can take motivation from Treaty showing what’s possible'

While leaders Cork City were undisputed hot favourites for the First Division title from the outset, few expected Kerry to provide the primary competition from Munster.

There was no surprise when the league’s newest club finished bottom in their maiden season but a win at Treaty United on Friday would hoist them above the Limerick side as the province’s closest challengers.

Form is certainly with the Kingdom crew. A season and a quarter into life as a senior member of the national league came their win home last Friday. And how emphatic that was – a 3-0 humbling of Longford Town at Mouthawk Park.

That win was coming. An asterix applied to the Munster Senior Cup triumph over Treaty given the opposition were understrength but that result in early April was the catalyst for five successive draws in the league.

Now they reacquaint with Treaty, whose early trailblazing has subsided in recent weeks. Tommy Barrett’s side have slipped from the side that began with three straight victories to the one with the same run of successive defeats.

In many ways, Treaty is the club Kerry are aiming to replicate. They, too, commenced with the blank canvas of an all-amateur squad three years ago couched in the realities of modest expectations.

Similarities exist insofar as being a one-county team but whereas Treaty are the latest iteration of almost a century of football in Limerick, Kerry are the first and one senior outfit to emerge from their territory.

“What they’ve achieved in such a short space of time – reaching the playoffs twice and FAI Cup semi-final - is crazy,” noted Conor McCarthy, Kerry’s head coach.

“We can take motivation from Treaty showing what’s possible.

“There’s likeness but also differences; our focus is very