Athlone Town 2 Shelbourne 2 (aet, 1-1 after 90 mins; Athlone Town won 4-3 on pens)
After 23 minutes of the 2022 FAI Cup final, Athlone were as good as done, Shelbourne going 2-0 up, a lead they never relinquished. Fast forward to Tallaght on Sunday afternoon and, in contrast to 12 months before, Athlone displayed the mother of all resilience in the rematch, a rollercoaster of an afternoon for Ciarán Kilduff’s side ending in a penalty shoot-out victory that gave the club its first ever victory in the competition.
“I’m a ball of emotions,” said player of the match Chloe Singleton. And little wonder.
The gist: Athlone went a goal up through Dana Scheriff on 33 minutes. Jemma Quinn levelled for Shelbourne with 15 minutes to go. And in the first half of extra-time, Quinn put the cup holders ahead. Only for Gillian Keenan to equalise for Athlone with three minutes to go. Penalties. A contest of the epic kind. It was a zinger of a final, error-strewn, yes, but intermingled with moments of magic.
Athlone made much the brighter start to the game and almost took the lead in the fourth minute when Singleton directed a header from Madie Gibson’s corner towards the bottom-right corner, only for it to be blocked by her own team-mate Kellie Brennan.
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Gibson then twice tested Shelbourne goalkeeper Amanda McQuillan, first with a long-range effort before Laurie Ryan picked her out on the left with a lovely pass from deep, but McQuillan dealt comfortably enough with both the American’s efforts.
Athlone maintained the pressure, Lauren Karabin’s cross from the right just evading Scheriff, while Shelbourne were indebted to a meaty block from Maggie Pierce when Singleton charged in to the box from the left.
But it was Shelbourne who came closest to taking the lead when Hannah Healy caught Jesi Rossman in possession, the 15-year-old squaring the ball to Noelle Murray in the box when she might have taken on a shot herself, Murray’s goalbound strike ricocheting off Kellie Brennan’s left foot and going wide.
Come the 33rd minute, though, Athlone were finally rewarded for their early dominance when Scheriff, the league’s top scorer this season, put them a goal up. After neat work by Róisín Molloy and Ryan down the right, Molloy played Singleton through, her cross in to the box deflected on to her own crossbar by Pierce. Scheriff was quickest to the rebound, prodding the ball past the stranded McQuillan.
It should have been 2-0 on the stroke of half-time when Singleton set up Gibson in front of goal, but she skewed her shot high and wide. That was a stroke of luck for Shelbourne, but they experienced a reversal of fortunes just before the break when they lost Megan Smyth-Lynch to a knee injury after a collision with Kayleigh Shine.
Noel King, in charge of Shelbourne for the last time after three years as manager, presumably had a stern word with his players at half-time because, having failed to settle at all in that first period, they re-emerged with a spring in their step.
Still, they struggled to create any clear openings, having to wait until the 65th minute before threatening Athlone’s goal, Alex Kavanagh’s chip in to the box causing havoc but Murray sent the resulting loose ball over the bar.
It was, though, all square 10 minutes later when substitute Jemma Quinn, a replacement for Christie Gray on the hour, pounced on an error by Athlone goalkeeper Katie Keane when she could only palm away Pierce’s cross from the right.
It was a heartbreaker for Athlone who had been much the better side until then. But they fought back, having the better of the closing minutes, Gibson’s curling shot from distance clipping the top of the crossbar before another effort drifted just wide of the right post.
Come injury-time, Keane, called in to the senior Irish squad by Vera Pauw a year ago when she was just 16, showed her quality when she made a brilliant save down low to her left from Quinn’s curling shot.
But come extra-time, Quinn found her range again, planting home a lay-off from her captain Pearl Slattery, who had been brilliantly picked out in the box by Murray.
Athlone finished by Shelbourne again? Nope. Enter Gillian Keenan, with three minutes to go in extra-time she controlled Muireann Devaney’s ball in to box and jabbed it home.
Penalties. Gibson hit the upright with the first, advantage Shelbourne. But Athlone converted every one thereafter, Scheriff, Singleton, Shine and Rossman all successful with their efforts. McQuillan and Kavanagh missed theirs for Shelbourne, prompting an Athlone celebration on the Tallaght pitch that resembled a haywire Riverdance.
Cruel? Of course. As King put it: “The only thing that went wrong on the day was to lose the bloody thing”. But a heck of an achievement for Kilduff, the former League of Ireland forward who only took over this Athlone side in the summer. “It’s special,” he beamed. That it was.
ATHLONE TOWN: Keane; K Brennan, Rossman, Shine, S Brennan (Slevin, 71); Karabin (Devaney, 28), L Ryan (capt) (I Ryan, 105); Molloy (Keenan, 98), Singleton, Gibson; Scheriff.
SHELBOURNE: McQuillan; Keenan, Slattery (capt), Pierce, Doyle (Devereux, 99); Healy, Kavanagh, Graham (Clare, 76); Smyth-Lynch (Letmon, 45), Murray, Gray (Quinn, 64 mins).
Referee: Marc Lynch.
