Ronan Kerin return a big boost for Avenue

AVENUE UTD have received a major boost ahead of Saturday’s Cup final with the return of striker Ronan Kerin.

Kerin played a key role at the start of the season as Avenue began their quest for League and Cup honours. In November, he departed for Lebannon as part of his work with the Irish Defence Forces. Manager of the Ennis club, David Russell told The Clare Echo that Kerin is available for selection.

“He is fit and healthy so he will be togging out, he’s been training away the whole time, he will be a huge addition and if we need him I’ll have no problem bringing him off the bench, he scored thirteen goals in ten games at the start of the season so he’ll be a huge addition for his physicality alone against the likes of Stephen Kelly and Paddy Purcell”.

A further boost has been provided with the return from injury of midfielder Alan Roche who spent three and a half weeks out of action. He will be battling alongside former Clare Youths captain Dylan Barry for a spot in the starting eleven. “All of the lads are on squad have got us to where we are now, we’ve done 80 plus training sessions, the days of training with nine, ten or eleven lads is gone, we’ve had fifteen to nineteen every night so it’s been a success in that regard”.

Unavailable for the encounter is Kilfenora native, Cian O’Dea. The Clare footballer who joined Avenue from Corofin Harps at the beginning of the season remains involved with Colm Collins’ footballers who welcome Meath to Cusack Park next weekend in the All-Ireland qualifiers. “We knew more than likely he wouldn’t be available for the end of the season, he has been an outstanding player for us in some of the crunch games before Christmas, he came on against North End United and scored a great penalty even though we lost the game, he’s been a huge addition and will play with us again next year, we’ll see how much we get out of him but he has been a great guy to have around”.