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Shels ride the storm to hammer Athlone in cup final

Updated / Monday, 21 Oct 2024 12:01
Kate Mooney (C) is mobbed after finding the net against Athlone Town
Kate Mooney (C) is mobbed after finding the net against Athlone Town

Shelbourne tamed Storm Ashley to obliterate Athlone Town's double dreams and sweep to a spectacular Sports Direct Women’s FAI Cup success.

Athlone were worthy SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division champions this year, but they were a shadow of their usual selves at a windy Tallaght Stadium, as Eoin Wearen’s Shels emphatically gained revenge for last year’s cup final loss.

A well-prepared Shels adjusted to the conditions far better than their rivals, who looked lost without injured captain Laurie Ryan.

Kate Mooney (2), Noelle Murray (2) Jess Gargan and Leah Doyle all found the net in a remarkable opening period. Cameroon striker Brenda Tabe got one back for Athlone, but it was a mere consolation.

Shelbourne comfortably managed a pedestrian second half to reclaim the cup and give Wearen a piece of silver in his first year at the helm.

Nobody anticipated an affair as one-sided as this, with the teams colliding in the showpiece for the third year in succession. Athlone floundered in the gale; Shels harnessed its power.

Athlone had that howling wind at their backs to start but Shels would soon take control of this contest, hitting the front after seven minutes.

Republic of Ireland international Roma McLaughlin – a class act throughout – teased in a cross from the right that coaxed Katie Keane from her goal. The young stopper hesitated, seemingly anticipating the ball would skip off the turf and land in her arms. Instead a dull bounce gave Mooney the chance to steal in, poke it beyond Keane and prod home.

It was the catalyst for an incessantly clinical Shelbourne showing that delivered a glut of goals.

On 14 minutes the lead was doubled when Shauna Brennan upended Maggie Pierce in the box. Penalty kick. Murray, playing in her 11th cup final, stepped up to slam it past Keane.

Gibson desperately tried to haul Athlone back into the contest but her mazy runs were bottled up by a swarm of red shirts, with Cameroon striker Tabe shut down equally effectively by Pearl Slattery and Pierce in the opening period.

On the half-hour mark, it was three.

McLaughlin’s cross hung in the wind, deceiving centre-half Jesi Rossman who mistimed her leap and watched in anguish as the ball floated over her head to the waiting Gargan. She kept her cool to loft home a calm finish and sent the Shelbourne dugout into raptures.

Rossman thumped a decent 30-yard effort a yard over the bar in search of redemption, but the half belonged to Shels, with the terrific Mooney adding gloss to their collective steel.

She bagged the fourth goal six minutes before the break after Doyle fed in a super ball that caught out Ciara O’Neill. Mooney controlled it on her chest before guiding home a smart volley with the outside of her boot.

Athlone looked utterly lost. They were haemorrhaging chances and leaking goals.

A 42nd-minute McLaughlin corner wasn’t dealt with, and Murray had the freedom of the box to pick her spot with a controlled effort that nestled in the right corner.

Right before the break Doyle got in on the act when another corner caused chaos and the left-back smashed a good finish into the top corner.

Tabe’s neat strike in first-half stoppage time at least gave the travelling Athlone supporters something to cheer about, but a 6-1 deficit at the break was as insurmountable as it was unexpected.

Athlone’s pride was hurt. They re-emerged with more fire in the belly, encapsulated by Gibson catching Keeva Keenan late and then getting booked for a clumsy barge on McLaughlin.

However they remained porous at the back. Murray could have completed her hat-trick just before the hour when she hared through on goal, only to be denied by a good Keane block.

Keane – included in the watching Eileen Gleeson’s latest Republic of Ireland squad – then made a quality fingertip save to nudge Alex Kavanagh’s rasping free-kick over the bar.

However the fight was gone from Athlone. They huffed and puffed but looked totally demoralised in a second half that was, in truth, a non-event.

Gibson almost pulled another one back at the death when she stretched to connect with Tabe's flick-on but the ball sailed into the stands, summing up an afternoon to forget for Athlone.

The red ribbons were tied to the cup long before the full-time whistle. This was Shelbourne's day.

Athlone Town: Katie Keane; Kellie Brennan, Kayleigh Shine, Shauna Brennan, Jesi Rossman; Kate Slevin (Taylor Anderson 89), Roisin Molloy (Isabel Ryan 83), Madison Gibson (capt), Hazel Donegan (Maeve Wollmer 83), Ciara O’Neill (Emily Burke HT); Brenda Tabe

Shelbourne: Amanda McQuillan; Keeva Keenan, Pearl Slattery (capt), Leah Doyle; Alex Kavanagh (Rachel Graham 71), Noelle Murray (Jemma Quinn 79), Roma McLaughlin (Rebecca Devereux 85), Jess Gargan, Maggie Pierce, Christie Gray (Hannah Healy 71); Kate Mooney (Megan Smyth Lynch 79)

Referee: Daniel Murphy

Attendance: 3,118

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