Molloy wants to do her bit for Athlone
Another player who has been supplying goals this season is Casey Howe – she netted her 11th goal of the campaign in that home draw with Cork City on Saturday evening last.
A SKILFUL Sligo woman stands in the way of Sligo Rovers this Saturday. Gurteen’s Roisin Molloy has become one of the standout players for Athlone Town in the
SSE Airtricity League of Ireland Women’s Premier Division. Attacking midfielder Molloy and the midlands club come to The Showgrounds aiming to secured a second successive final appearance in the Sports Direct Women’s FAI Cup.
Last season’s FAI Women’s
Cup was won by Shelbourne who defeated Athlone 2-0 at Tallaght Stadium. This completed a season’s double for Shelbourne, who also won the Women’s Premier Division (with Athlone finishing runners-up). Molloy, a former Rovers women’s underage player as is her teammate Muireann Devaney from Manorhamilton, knows that Rovers have been building form of late. Although the Bit O’Red were held to a 3-3 draw at The Showgrounds last Saturday this was their third game unbeaten, having found their form with a 1-0 away defeat of Bohemians in last month’s
Sports Direct Women’s FAI Cup quarter-final.
Athlone have already beaten Rovers twice in this season’s Women’s Premier Division – 3-1 at The Showgrounds in April and 2-0 in the return fixture in Athlone on August 19. Molloy, who turns 22 next month, scored in Athlone’s win in Sligo last April. Nothing can be taken for granted this Saturday according to the player who is in her third season with Athlone and is also a dynamic Ladies Footballer. “We’re expecting a really tough game, especially with it being at The Showgrounds. Rovers will get a big crowd out and that will make it difficult for us,” she said.
“When we’ve played them this year we have had competitive games and it could have gone either way.” She continued: “Rovers have been building momentum in recent weeks and I’m sure they will be confident of doing well.
“Any team that gets to the last four of the cup deserves to be there so we will have to be up for this test. You can never look past a semi-final.” Given their current position in the Women’s Premier Division – seventh place, 21 points behind leaders Peamount United – the Sports Direct Women’s FAI Cup is the club’s only chance of silverware in 2023.
If they do get over Rovers in this Saturday’s semi-final then there’s the matter of having to beat either Shamrock Rovers or holders Shelbourne in the decider. Still, Athlone have already proven themselves by beating the aforementioned Peamount on penalties in the Sports Direct Women’s FAI Cup quarter-finals. “I suppose the league didn’t go how we wanted in the first-half of the campaign and we gave ourselves too much to do. But to be still involved in the cup is really positive for us – it is great to have something to play for at this stage of the season.
Given her growing status, this is one of those rare occasions when Sligo’s sporting public would prefer if Molloy, who rates among the Women’s Premier Division’s most prolific provider of crosses from the right flank, has a quiet game – because she’s coming up against Rovers.
“Because I am from Sligo it can be strange to play at The Showgrounds for a different team. But my focus is what I can do for Athlone and I’ll try to put in the best performance that I can – one that will hopefully help us get a result.”
Molloy is chuffed that Gurteen Celtic have entered a team in the Sligo-Leitrim Women’s League. The Republic of Ireland featuring in this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, with two of the international squad coming from Shamrock Rovers in the Women’s Premier Division, is another major boost for women’s soccer in this country according to Molloy.
She added: “Anything can happen in a semi-final. From our perspective, getting to another final would be really good but right now we aren’t thinking about anything but this semi-final.
“The dream for us is to get to the cup final again but I’m sure that Rovers will be doing everything they can to get there as well.”
The number of times that Athlone Town have contested an FAI Women’s Cup final (2022).