jstl not comparing session object with value in select

I have used this method throughout my project to make a select show the value that the user picked on a previous page, it works in multiple other loactions in the project when passing only a normal object not in a session

<option value='dublin'
 ${locs.county == 'dublin'? "selected" : ""}>Dublin</option>

locations however when I attempt to uses it with a session nothing happens, the code is

<c:set var = "con" value = "${sessionScope.User.county}"/>
    <c:out value = "${con}"/>
        <div class="col-sm-8">
            <select name="county" class="form-control selectPadHeight">

                <option value='kerry'
                    ${sessionScope.User.county == 'kerry'? "selected" : ""}>Kerry</option>
                <option value='kildare' 
                    ${sessionScope.User.county == 'Kildare'? "selected" : ""}>Kildare</option>
                <option value='kilkenny'
                    ${sessionScope.User.county == 'kilkenny'? "selected" : ""}>Kilkenny</option>

the session value works as the variable con successfully prints kildare. I tried using con to compare but that also does not work, any help would be greatly appericated