SOCCER: AVENIR SPORTS ALL-ISLAND CUP QUARTER-FINAL
Shels exact some cup revenge on Town
Shelbourne 2
Athlone Town 1
DAIRE WALSH
GOALS in either half by Noelle Murray were crucial at Tolka Park on Saturday afternoon as Athlone Town exited the All-Island Cup with a narrow quarter-final defeat to Shelbourne.
The initial signs in this contest had been encouraging for the Midlanders with Casey Howe’s neat finish edging them in front during the opening quarter. Yet Shels eventually equalised deep into first-half stoppage-time through the influential Murray and while there was little to separate the two teams for much of the second period, the same player doubled her tally 12 minutes from the end to ensure the Metropolitans progressed into the last-four of the competition.
Although these sides had already met in this year’s edition of the Women’s Premier Division – a 1-1 draw at Athlone Town Stadium on March 30 – their latest encounter evoked memories of their duels in the 2022 and 2023 Women’s FAI Cup deciders. Having lost out 2-0 to Shels in the former, Athlone gained revenge in the latter encounter with a magnificent penalty shootout victory.
Shels may have secured the spoils on this occasion, but Athlone will have an opportunity to make amends when they pay another visit to Drumcondra in the Premier Division on August 17.
Whereas Shelbourne retained just five players that had started their league victory over Galway United just seven days earlier, Athlone boss Ciaran Kilduff opted to make just two alterations from the side that earned a 1-0 win at home to Treaty United on the same day. In defence and attack respectively, Ciara O’Neill and Hazel Donegan were added to the first 11 in place of Kayleigh Shine and Madison Gibson – both of whom were named on the bench for the Town’s latest knockout showdown with Shels.
Roma McLaughlin was one of six players to be given a chance from the start by Shels boss Eoin Wearen and Athlone netminder Katie Keane was forced off her line to smother a goal-bound strike by the Republic of Ireland senior international in the third-minute of the play.
Marauding wing-back Christie Gray was also causing problems down the right-wing, but after surviving early pressure from their north Dublin counterparts, Athlone gradually worked their way into the game. Thanks in no small part to the energetic Chloe Singleton, the visitors started to get a foothold inside the Shels half and ultimately broke the deadlock with just under 16 minutes gone on the clock.
Kerryanne Brown’s lofted delivery into the penalty area was only partially cleared by the opposition defence and when the loose ball subsequently fell into the path of Howe, she superbly drilled a shot into the back of the net – via the fingertips of Shels custodian Amanda McQuillan.
This was the perfect tonic for Athlone and with O’Neill slotting in nicely alongside Jesi Lynne Rossman at the heart of their defence, Kilduff’s charges were keeping the Shels attack at arm’s length.
Yet the Athlone bench did breathe a sigh of relief when Alex Kavanagh smashed the underside of the crossbar off a Jessica Gargan pull-back on 37 minutes and the post also came to the away side’s rescue moments later from a fierce drive by the lively Gray.
Having survived both of these incidents, Athlone now looked set to hold onto their slender leads at the break. However, with an additional hold-up meaning that the clock advanced beyond the third minutes of injury time that were announced, Shels finally unlocked the opposition rearguard.
From a neat cross on the right-flank by the industrious Gray, Murray swept the ball home from close-in to ensure the teams were on level terms at 1-1 heading into the second half.
Athlone were aiming to halt the momentum of Shels upon the resumption, but received another let-off when the aforementioned McLaughlin missed a gilt-edged chance from a Murray pass on 48 minutes.
To their credit, Athlone dug deep in front of 324 spectators at the Drumcondra venue (one of whom was Republic of Ireland women’s national team manager Eileen Gleeson) and Howe in particular stepped up to the plate as the action wore on.
As well as testing the resolve of McQuillan with a powerful shot from long-range, she also delivered an excellent cross into the box on 53 minutes that Roisin Molloy was agonisingly close to getting on the end of.
The leadership of Athlone captain Laurie Ryan was also coming to the fore in the middle of the park and with Shine, Isabel Ryan and Gibson introduced off the bench, there was a fresh look to the Town line-up moving into the final-quarter.
Republic of Ireland underage international Mary Philips was also introduced by Kilduff on 77 minutes, but there was to be a decisive blow on the horizon for Athlone. After finding herself through on goal, Murray showed immense composure to coolly slot her low shot to the back of the net. This meant Athlone were chasing the game for the very first time and even though Philips made a strong impact during her brief time on the pitch, they came up just short in the end.
Shelbourne: Amanda McQuillan; Jessica Gargan, Pearl Slattery, Nia Hannon; Christie Gray, Alex Kavanagh, Rachel Graham, Leah Doyle; Roma McLaughlin, Mia Dodd; Noelle Murray.
Subs: Eabha O’Mahony for Doyle, Jemma Quinn for Dodd (both 65), Keeva Keenan for Nia Hannon (70), Nadine Clare for Graham, Katie McCarn for McLaughlin (both 75).
Athlone Town: Katie Keane; Kellie Brennan, Ciara O’Neill, Jesi Lynne Rossman, Shauna Brennan; Kerryanne Brown, Laurie Ryan; Roisin Molloy, Chloe Singleton, Casey Howe; Hazel Donegan. Subs: Kayleigh Shine for K Brennan (half-time), Isabel Ryan for Molloy, Madison Gibson for Donegan (both 62), Mary Philips for O’Neill (77).
Referee: Daniel Murphy.