Athlone seal emphatic win to advance in Champions League

The 42

3 days ago

Athlone Town 3
ŽNK Agram 0
Kevin Egan reports from Athlone Town Stadium
ATHLONE TOWN'S European adventure will continue later this month after another dominant home display saw them brush aside the challenge of Croatian opponents ŽNK Agram this afternoon.
On Wednesday night, right winger Róisín Molloy was the star of the show with two goals and one assist against Cardiff City, but it was her left-sided counterpart Maddie Gibson who mirrored that display today, hitting the net twice and putting another one on a plate for midfielder Hannah Waesch, all in what proved to be a decisive first half.
The victory means that the midlanders become the first League of Ireland team since Raheny United in 2014 to come through their first qualifying round group in the Women's Champions League, and they can now begin preparations for another mini-series in the Netherlands on 27 and 30 August, with Breiðablik of Iceland their next opponents.
On paper, the Icelandic side should be a significant step up in quality, given that they reached the group stages of this competition just three years ago where they met Real Madrid and Paris St. Germain, and are now in their fourth Champions League campaign in six seasons, that run starting before the women's team was formed at Athlone Town .
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Colin Fortune's side will feel that their ceiling continues to go higher, however, as they left plenty of opportunities behind them in the opening half, including one disallowed goal and a miscue from Shauna Brennan with just the keeper to beat from eight yards out.
There will be concerns too, most notably about how ŽNK Agram took over in the second half, enjoying far more possession and testing goalkeeper Megan Plaschko with a handful of good strikes from outside the box, not to mention drawing some crucial blocks from Kayleigh Shine and Natalie McNally.
The American goalkeeper was sharp and more than able for the challenge, however, and neither could it be denied that the Irish champions were the side that poured much more energy into the opening half, something that could be attributed both to their style of play and their greater intensity levels during that one-sided 45 minutes.
That initial period was as impressive as anything this fledgling club has produced in their short lifespan. Gibson terrorised the Croatians with her direct running and trickery on the left flank, but it was midfielder Waesch who was the driving force — she controlled the midfield battle with complete authority.
A couple of early crosses from Gibson hinted at what was to be a productive route of attack for Athlone, and as the corner count started to mount, Kelly Brady forced the ball over the line only for the effort to be disallowed for a foul on Nika Radolović in the Agram goal.
There was just as much carnage and contact on the next corner kick in the 17th minute from Gibson, but this time the referee deemed that there was nothing against the rules and as the ball curved inside the far post, the deadlock had been broken.
Gibson turned provider for the next one, intercepting a sloppy pass out of defence and beating one defender before teeing up Waesch for a low finish five minutes later.
The second quarter continued in the same vein with no pressure whatsoever on the Athlone defence, but without any further breakthrough either. Excellent approach play from Brady and Molloy teed up Brennan from close range, but on a brilliant night for the player defensively, her touch deserted her at the key moment, and she skewed her kick off target.
Two minutes into first-half stoppage time, Gibson got another corner and yet again, she picked her spot in the far top corner, the ball sailing over heavy traffic to ensure a much more comfortable second half than Athlone Town might ever have imagined on a stage like this.
After scaling such heights, a little slippage after half-time was never going to be costly.
Athlone Town: Megan Plaschko; Kellie Brennan, Kayleigh Shine, Natalie McNally, Shauna Brennan; Hannah Waesch; Róisín Molloy (Lucy Fitzgerald 78), Sarah Rice, Israela Groves (captain) (Kate Slevin 70), Madison Gibson (Hazel Donegan 70); Kelly Brady.
ŽNK Agram: Nika Radolović; Mateja Bulut (Lea Kolčić HT), Kristina Nevrkla, Aleksandra Popović (Luana Vanjak 76), Maja Bičanić (Nada Barunović HT); Anela Lubina (Melani Mihić 81), Ana Jakobašić; Jasna Djoković, Maja Joščak, Ivana Stanić (Stela Veseli 71); Ana Dujmović.
Referee: Briet Bragadottir (Iceland).