Details

Date Time League Season
1 May 2023 7:45 pm LOI Men's First Division 2023

Match Report

Pierrot at the double as Athlone march on

Athlone Town maintained their third placed position with a commanding 4-1 win in Ballybofey tonight.

Franz Pierrot continued his purple patch with a first half brace. Haji Abdikadir made it 3-0 with twenty minutes to play before Valeri Dolia put the icing on the cake with a fine strike a couple of minutes later.

The first ten were mostly quiet but as soon as Athlone had a sniff at goal, they took it. The visitors were knocking it around midfield before Haji Abdikadir played it down the right flank for Pierrot to give chase. The Haitian got on the end of it and found the bottom corner to get his side up and running.

Harps were almost handed an equaliser ten minutes later. Vladi Velikin, stepping in for Enda Minogue, had the ball played back to him. He took his time and kicked it right at Michael Harris, but Harris couldn’t control it and Velikin jumped on the loose ball. Hearts were certainly in Athlone mouths for a moment.

Athlone doubled their lead right after the half hour mark. Aaron Connolly had the ball played back to him and swung in a deflected cross. Seamas Keogh went to head it clear but misjudged the flight of the ball and it bounced up, hitting him on the arm. Pierrot stepped up for the spot kick and despite Tim Heimer guessing the right way, it was squeezed in.

The third came in the 70th minute. A Ryan Flood pass back to Shane McMonagle was mis-controlled and Pierrot latched onto it before being denied by Heimer. The resulting corner was sent deep to Patrick Hickey who hit the bar before Abdikadir acrobatically got the rebound. Valeri Dolia then got the fourth a couple of minutes later when he picked up the ball with oceans of space on the left, drove forward and found the net with an absolute bullet of a strike to put the cherry on top for the town.

Harps to their credit kept pushing for something and got it in the 89th minute. They won a free out right and Keogh sent a low cross that Filip Da Silva got his head on, flicking it into the net. It may have been a consolation, but Harps will be pleased with the fight shown.

Athlone move back up to third with the win and may be establishing themselves as the surprise package. They head down the Shannon Friday to face Treaty United, whilst Harps make the very long journey to Cobh.

Finn Harps

1Tim Heimer Goalkeeper
4Daithi McCallion Defender
6Noe Baba Defender 19'
7Ryan Flood 21 Defender
8Katlego Mashigo 15 Midfielder
9Filip Da Silva Forward 89'
10Michael Harris Forward
11Seamas Keogh Midfielder
17Shane McMonagle Midfielder
18Ellis Farrar 20 Defender
22Ryan Rainey 19 Midfielder
25Oisin Cooney Goalkeeper
15Kevin Jordan 8 Defender
16Brendan McLaughlin Forward
19Daniel Okwute 22 Forward
20Sean O’Donnell 18 Forward
21Damian Duffy 7 Midfielder

Athlone Town

30Vladislav Velikin Goalkeeper
2German Fuentes Rodriguez Defender
3Jack Kavanagh Midfielder
4Noah van Geenen Defender
6Patrick Hickey Defender
8Aaron Connolly Midfielder
9Frantz Pierrot 17 Forward 13', 34'
10Valerii Dolia 5 Forward 73'
15Haji Abdikadir 12 Midfielder 70'
71'
20Jamar Campion-Hinds 7 Midfielder 56'
25Matthew Leal 27 Defender
16Reuben Egan Goalkeeper
5Charles Mutawe 10 Midfielder
7Adam Lennon 20 Midfielder
12Blake Ryan 15 Defender 82'
17Matthew McCarrick 9 Forward
19Aaron McBride Defender
22Nazar Zubkov Defender
24Josh McGlone Midfielder
27Matthew Baker 25 Defender
  • 95'

    Full time.

  • 90'

    Harps then have a penalty claim waved away followed by a player hitting the side-net. Some fight at the end of this. Five minutes added on.

  • 89'

    Goal! Keogh puts in a low cross from a free and Da Silva flicks it into the net! Harps have a consolation.

  • 86'

    Hickey hoofs behind to prevent a goalmouth scramble.

  • 78'

    Keogh hits the bar with a mis-hit cross.

  • 73'

    Goal! Dolia cuts inside, is given space galore and with a bullet of a strike finds the net! It's an exhibition from Athlone now!

  • 70'

    Goal! The resulting corner finds Hickey at the back stick who hits the bar but Abdikadir gets the rebound and finds the net!

  • 69'

    A Flood pass back to McMonagle is mis-controlled and Pierrot has a one-on-one with Heimer, but the German gets down a puts it behind.

  • 66'

    Harris mis-controls a pass and Pierrot lashes onto it, but sends it out almost over the back fence. They can't all go in...

  • 59'

    Rainey is forced off through injury. Okwute is on.

  • 53'

    Mashigo sets up a shot nicely with a good first touch and his effort is just wide. Unlucky not to find the net. Harps looking good out of the break.

  • 52'

    McCallion hits a strike right at Velikin. Routine save.

  • 50'

    A teasing ball to the back stick is touched wide by Abdikadir. Good defending after a good ball from Keogh.

  • 46'

    Abdikadir goes in hard on Flood and a bit of a scuffle ensues. No cards given and play goes on. Harps seemed fairly upset with the challenge.

  • 46'

    Back underway.

  • 45'

    Half time.

  • 45'

    Two minutes added on.

  • 44'

    Pierrot lays it off to Leal on the edge of the area and his shot is close but just over. Athlone nearly had this wrapped at half time.

  • 34'

    Goal! Guess who? Pierrot steps up and despite Heimer guessing the right way, he slips it by him. 2-0 and once again, he's on a hat-trick.

  • 33'

    Penalty! A Connolly cross takes a deflection, Seamas Keogh goes to head it away but it bounces up and hits him on the arm!

  • 28'

    Flood swings in a corner from the right and it's met by McCallion, but he glances it wide.

  • 22'

    Veilikin kicks it right at Michael Harris but seizes on it instantly after. Harps were nearly gifted a goal.

  • 21'

    Ball fed to Pierrot who commits a foul trying to hold off a couple of Harps defenders.

  • 15'

    Seamas Keogh wins a corner and Harps almost bundle the ball in, but can't. Now have a throw in deep in Athlone territory.

  • 13'

    Goal! Athlone take the lead after Abdikadir plays a through ball down the right hand side and Pierrot gets on the end of it and finds the net! He is on fire right now!

  • 8'

    The stream is now back.

  • 1'

    And we're off.

  • Athlone are now in 4th thanks to Cobh's win over Treaty earlier. They'll rise back up to 3rd with a win here. A loss however and Harps will leapfrog them into 4th, knocking them down to 5th and knocking Bray out of the playoff places.

  • Finn Harps dropped points to Longford Friday night whilst Athlone Town rose to 3rd in the table with a 3-0 win over Wexford. Athlone's confidence should be riding high, but a loss would flip around the playoff places yet again.

  • The lineups are now in.

  • Hello and welcome to finalwhistle.ie for live coverage of today's LOIFD encounter between Finn Harps and Athlone Town. I'm Seán Comber and I'll be talking you through this one.

Past Meetings

(Round 2)
3 - 1
LOI Men's First Division
Athlone Town Stadium

Athlone Town AFC 3-1 Finn Harps FC

Ground

Finn Park
Finn Park, Navenny Street, Stranorlar Electoral Division, Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal District, County Donegal, F93 Y27K, Ireland

Formerly DCU Journalism, covering mainly Athlone teams for finalwhistle.ie