FAI Cup final: Athlone Town v Bohemians, Tallaght Stadium, Sunday, 3.0. Live on TG4.
Athlone Town, fair to say, won’t forget this season in a hurry. The gist: they made their debut in European competition, beating the champions of Wales, Croatia and Serbia before being eliminated by Glasgow City. They retained the league title they won for the first time last season, and they have reached their fourth FAI Cup final in a row, giving them a chance of winning their first league and cup double.
Oh, and they’ve had three managers in 12 months and a fair chunk of off-the-field uncertainty about what the future might hold.
A season like no other, then, by a team that keeps on defying expectations.
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When they made their National League debut in 2020, the longer-term ambitions might have been lofty, but the immediate ones were modest. They’d have been made more humble still after they suffered an 8-0 throttling by then reigning champions Peamount United to make it four defeats out of four at the start of that maiden campaign.
Two years later? They finished runners-up in the league and reached the cup final. A year on? They won the cup. Another year on? They won the league and reached the cup final. In other words, fast learners.
But how on earth have they done it?
In a nutshell, by unearthing home-based nuggets and some from the Wild Atlantic Way, along with smart recruitment of foreign players, many of them footballing nomads looking for the latest adventure on their travels. And some of them US college graduates in search of a taste of the game in Europe – Champions League qualification adding to the attraction.
The nuggets, to name but a few, include Athlone natives Kayleigh Shine, Chloe Singleton and Hazel Donegan, along with Galway blow-ins Kellie and Shauna Brennan and Kate Slevin, an import from Sligo, Roisin Molloy, and another from Donegal, Kerryanne Brown.
There’s been a hefty foreign legion since 2020, Dana Scheriff and Jesi Rossman among the most successful early recruits, but this season the squad has included a plethora of players from abroad, the bulk of them also from the United States.
[ Kelly Brady hat-trick sees Athlone Town retain Women’s Premier Division titleOpens in new window ]
New Jersey (Madie Gibson), Minnesota (goalkeeper Megan Plaschko), Illinois (Natalie McNally) and Oregon (Sarah Rice) are all represented, as well as New York, home of the league’s top scorer, Kelly Brady, who qualifies to play for Ireland through her Irish-born parents.
There’s also a Texan with a German passport, Hannah Waesch, a Canadian who plays for Jamaica, Izzy Groves, and a Cypriot international, Maria Matthaiou.
Ask any of them how on earth they ended up in Athlone, and invariably they’ll say: “I got a call from my agent.” Ask them if they were attracted by the financial rewards, and they’ll dissolve from the laughing.
The notion that the imports are swanning around the town in Ferraris and living in penthouses is, well, a little far-fetched. Put it this way: Brady took a job in a local coffee shop to supplement her earnings.
“We have girls travelling two and a half hours each way to training, they’re not making money out of it, they’re losing money just to play football,” said Ciarán Kilduff a year ago, around the time he stepped down as Athlone manager.
While their players are certainly being paid, at best, for some, it barely reaches subsistence level, although for the in or around 90 per cent of those in the league who only receive expenses rather than a salary, that might seem like a luxury.
[ Colin Fortune explains his decision to step down as Athlone Town managerOpens in new window ]
Kilduff was succeeded by Colin Fortune, who resigned four days before the side’s Europa Cup qualifier against Glasgow City last month, frustration getting the better of him after the club failed to offer him or a number of his players new contracts for next season.
Chief executive Steven Gray explained that that was because the club was “in the middle of a financial audit”.
“I don’t know what money we have,” he said. How that will work out remains to be seen, despite new chairman Nick Giannotti, a US businessman, insisting on his arrival in August that “I want to see the ladies’ team as a perennial powerhouse in Ireland”.
It’s been noticeable since Fortune’s resignation, John Sullivan taking over from him, that the players have waved away any questions about their future at the club – because, evidently, they don’t know what’s in the kitty, nor what share of it they will have.
“We want to try to stay together,” said Gibson. “This is a special group, if we can stay together, then that would be amazing for the club and for the league as well.”
It would too – but if the purse is tightened, it’s going to be mighty hard for Athlone to hold on to the likes of Gibson, Waesch, McNally and Brady, not to mention Molloy, Shine and the Brennans, Fortune claiming that other clubs have already approached the soon-to-be out-of-contract players.
And it would be a crying shame if there was a mass exodus, Athlone having added a heap of spice to a league that, apart from Wexford’s four interventions, has been dominated by Dublin clubs since its inaugural season in 2012. Three of this season’s top four in the league – Athlone, Galway and Wexford – were of the non-Dublin variety, so those beyond the Pale have been putting to up to the likes of Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers and Peamount.
A youthful Bohemians side, managed by Albanian Alban Hysa, will, though, hope to fly the capital’s flag in Tallaght on Sunday. They’re roaring underdogs, this their first ever FAI Cup final, having finished 20 points behind Athlone in the league.
But they drew with the champions back in August, one of the rare occasions Athlone dropped points all season, and they’ll trust that their opponents will still be haunted by last year’s 6-1 humbling by Shelbourne in the final.
There’s a David v Goliath feel to this one, but many a slain Goliath has limped away from this fixture over the years. A win would add another remarkable chapter to Athlone’s story, but, it seems, none of their players knows quite what will come next.
