Athlone Town 0-3 Glasgow City (Agg 0-6)
Athlone Town's European adventure came to an end last night as a goal from Irish international Emily Whelan ten minutes before half-time sucked the life out of their bid to climb a mountain against Glasgow City.
Facing into a three-goal deficit from the first leg of their UEFA Women's Europa Cup qualifying round, just under 1,400 supporters came along, hoping to see their side score the first goal and at least threaten to add to a European campaign that has seen them take the scalps of Cardiff City, ZNK Agram (Croatia) and Red Star Belgrade.
It was never on the cards, however, and by the time substitute striker Nicole Kozlova found the net with two goals in three minutes deep into the final quarter, the edge had been well and truly stripped from a game where Glasgow’s rock-solid defence offered little or no light to the League of Ireland champions at any stage.
Athlone’s greater propensity for defensive errors was another marked difference between the teams. Three times in the first half, and again midway through the second, stray passes in their own backline opened the door for Glasgow, though none of the mistakes were punished.
Sofia Maatta was a constant threat to the Athlone defence down the right wing for the opening 45 minutes as well, with Natalie McNally repeatedly called into action to defend a handful of excellent deliveries from that flank.
The midfield duo of Hannah Waesch and Kate Slevin gave Athlone a solid foothold in the trenches but it all broke down going forward, with Kimberley Smit a tower of strength in the Glasgow defence.
Then Natalia Wrobel curled in a teasing delivery from the same right wing, and hesitancy in the Athlone enabled it to run through to the far post where Whelan, who earned the most recent of her nine Ireland caps in 2021, was waiting to head the ball in from five yards out.
The introduction of frontline players Róisín Molloy, Madison Gibson and Shauna Brennan was a last throw of the dice to try and force at least a little bit of excitement and drama but a Hannah Waesch shot from over 20 yards out that flew well left and wide three minutes into the second half was as good as it got.
Meanwhile Glasgow turned the screw, enjoying more and more ball and drawing three incredible saves from Maria Matthaiou in the Athlone goal.
The Cypriot custodian even saved Nicole Kozlova’s penalty, awarded despite the protests of Kayleigh Shine for a handball offence by the local centre back. However, the keeper could do nothing as Katie Lockwood picked up the rebound and chipped the ball back across the goal for a simple tap in from Kozlova.
Another close-range finish from Kozlova and a thunderous Amy Anderson drive that slammed into the Athlone crossbar rubber-stamped Glasgow’s dominance, with Athlone wilting as they tried forlornly to add one more happy footnote to their historic campaign.
Athlone Town: Maria Matthaiou; Kellie Brennan, Kayleigh Shine, Natalie McNally (Shauna Brennan HT), Sarah Rice; Kate Slevin, Hannah Waesch (Lucy Fitzgerald 80); Isabel Ryan (Emma Mooney 80), Aoife Murphy O’Connor (Róisín Molloy HT), Kelly Brady; Hazel Donegan (Madison Gibson HT).
Glasgow City: Lee Alexander; Lisa Evans, Lana Golob, Kimberley Smit, Amy Muir; Hayley Lauder (Erin McLaughlin 59); Sofia Maata (Mebae Tanaka HT), Linda Motlhalo (Amy Anderson 66), Natalia Wróbel (Katie Lockwood 59), Emily Whelan; Lisa Forrest (Nicole Kozlova 59).
Referee: Karoline Wacker (Germany).
Watch Newcastle United v Barcelona in the Champions League on Thursday from 7.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
