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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully

Birthday boy Billy Dennehy hoping for the icing on the cake as Kerry FC make history on Friday

No guesses are needed for what will be Billy Dennehy's birthday wish on Friday.

Kerry FC will make history on the night when they kick off in the SSE Airtricity First Division for the first time at their sold-out Mounthawk Park ground in Tralee.

And Dennehy, as the club's manager who has put his heart and soul into making this move to senior level, would love a positive result against Cobh Ramblers as the icing on his birthday cake.

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"When the fixture list came out I saw the first game of the season was on my birthday, it's obviously a special day on a lot of fronts," said the Tralee man.

"Yeah, the timing is nice on a personal level so it would be great if we could finish it off with a good performance and a good effort.

"It's a special day for me and my family, my son was there at our open day on Monday and he never saw me play.

"So to see him out there being a part of that was a special time for me individually, and it was a special day for a lot of the players too.

"It would be nice to finish off the evening with a good performance."

The former Sunderland, Shamrock Rovers, Cork City, St Pat's and Limerick winger only turns 36 at the end of the week.

Billy Dennehy during his playing days with Cork City (©INPHO/Morgan Treacy)

He hung up his boots in 2019 to concentrate on his coaching career with the Kerry under-17s and under-19s and admits he wasn't tempted to return ahead of this milestone season.

"You obviously haven't seen me playing in a while," he deadpanned.

"A lot of people have said that to me and thankfully injury-wise and all that I'm fine.

"But look, I started this new chapter seven years ago and at times alright you'd see the players out training and you'd get the urge to join in.

"You join in for 10 or 15 minutes and you realise that, yeah, stay retired and try to help them with the experience I've had in the game.

"I've been through a lot in my own career and I'm trying to give it all back to the players.

"Hopefully it will help some of them go on to another level and use Kerry as a platform to kick on. I'd be very proud and happy to see some of them do that."

It was only in mid-November that Kerry FC were granted a licence to compete in the First Division.

Dennehy and his staff quickly whittled a hopefuls list down from over 60 to a final squad of 25 over the past few months.

"Of course it was a challenge, we were allowed into the League and all of a sudden you don't have a senior team to play in it with," he said. "The process was ongoing the whole time.

"So you have to adjust straight away and identify targets, and I think we've gone through the process as best as we could.

"We made a few early signings, like Matt (Keane) and Sean McCarthy, and that probably helped a bit because all of a sudden established League players are the first signings for the club.

"As a manager you get a lot of phone calls about these superstars that are available so you're always analysing.

"But the most suitable thing wasn't just the player but the person as well, the personalities and characters have to be right to bring into the club.

"So it was about learning about people and the group we've put together finally aren't just good players, they're good people and that's very important for me."

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