Kildare County Folds

While I've been moving, things have been falling apart in south-central Ireland. In the middle of last week the directors of the team resigned, followed by the manager on Friday. This was leading up to the team's final game of the season on Saturday at home to Shelbourne. Earlier int he week te fixture was called off, but the fans got together with the remnants of the team and figured out how to make it work. The team took the field wearing another team's kits as the Kildare kits were int he possession of the assistant manager, who had also resigned earlier in the week, and the stadium and concessions were staffed by fans. The Thoroughbreds lost 5-1 and finished last in the First Division, facing a relegation playoff.

Today the remaining management of the team announced that the club was going into liquidation and had played its last game after 7 seasons. They were immediately relegated as the relegation playoff was forfeited. Apparently there was an effort to rescue the club at the last minute but the debacle that management put Shelbourne through before the fans stepped in and the fact that the plan would only work if the new leadership wasn't penalized by the FA for the prior management's mistakes made it a non-starter.

I had really only followed the club the last two seasons so I can't say I'm really attached to them like I am with my other clubs. Still its sad to see a club slide into oblivion. Hopefully somebody in the area will give it another go in the near future.

Kildare County Wins A Game!

Yes, believe it or not, after opening the season with a draw, then losing 15 straight league games and 2 cup matches, Kildare County has finally won a game this season! On Friday night they traveled to Terryland Park to face 10th placed Meruve United, and quickly went down 1-0 midway through the first half. Everything seemed to click after halftime though as the Thoroughbreds reeled of 4 unanswered goals to not only win, but win in convincing fashion 4-1!

The 3 points still leaves them in the cellar of the First Division, with a 5 point gap to 11th placed Longford Town, who has a game in hand and easily has the goal differential tiebreaker in their favor. This match was the midpoint of the 33 game season though, so County still has time to make a push and try to survive.

Relegated

The second leg of Kildare County's promotion/relegation playoff against Mervue just ended, and not in the Thoroughbred's favor. On Tuesday they played to a 2-2 draw at Mervue and the expectation was that Kildare would have the advantage playing the second leg at home needing only a win to survive. Well things didn't turn out that way as County crashed to a 3-0 defeat and a home in the 'A' Championship next season. I'm not sure if I will continue to follow Kildare next season. Finding news on them was difficult enough when they were in the first division, and given the lack of information out their about the "A" Championship I'm not sure if I'll even be able to continue to track them. We'll have to see what next season brings.

Why Kildare County?

Another, and for now the last, in my occasional series of posts about why I follow the teams I do. I've done previous posts about the Colorado Rapids, Queen of the South, Blackburn Rovers, Ebbsfleet United, and CD Tenerife. This time around we'll look at Kildare County FC of the Irish First Division.

So a random team from the second-tier of Irish football located in south-central Ireland is probably an odd choice for an American living in Denver. In this case though its the closest thing I have to rooting for a "local" European team.

My family tree, through the Maxwell name, stretches back from Seattle (where I was born) to the Dakotas, Midwestern Canada, and finally back to Port Laoise, Ireland. My great, great, great, great grandfather, Col. John Maxwell, was born there to Dr. John and Penelope Maxwell in 1775 or 1776. He joined the British Marines and served in the Caribbean before emigrating to Canada after leaving the service. Our genealogy research on the Maxwell line stops with Dr. John Maxwell.

Once I determined where in Europe I came from I naturally started looking for the closest professional football team and I found Kildare County. Station Road is about 45 kilometers from Port Laoise and is the closest club in either the Irish Premier or First Divisions. Thus they became another one of the teams I follow.

Honestly in my list of teams they are the squad I'm least passionate about. That's mainly because the Irish First Division is barely a full-time league and the coverage reflects that. That makes it hard to really get excited about the team. I'm still rooting for them to avoid relegation, not only because I root for them to do well, but also because if they drop down into the lower levels of Irish football following them from here will be pretty much impossible.