Athlone Town player Jessica Hennessy feels being the underdog going into Sunday’s Evoke Women’s FAI Cup Final, will suit her side better as they look to spoil Shelbourne’s potential double celebrations.
It has been a whirlwind 12 months for Athlone Town in both the Women’s National League and Women’s FAI Cup, having finished seventh in the league and dumped out in the Quarter Finals of the Cup last year, they almost took the league title to a play-off this year and could very well come home with the cup this weekend.
Speaking on the FinalWhistle.ie WNL Podcast Hennessy laudits the bond both her, her teammates and their manager Tommy Hewitt all have, their closeness has certainly helped them to grow together over the course of this season, she is sad to see the curtain come down on a terrific season.
“Yeah look it’s been great like I’ve enjoyed every minute, I know all of the girls have as well and I just think as the group has really gotten close and to be fair Tommy has that bond with us as well, it’s been great like we’re kinda sad that it’s finishing now but hopefully we get the cup but if we don’t we are still proud for how much we have accomplished this season.”
After last year they have certainly exceeded any goals put in front of them this season, second in the league and now a cup final, hardly anyone believed in Athlone this year challenging the old guard in the top half of the table, Hennessy especially gives credit to the two people at either end of the field who have had important roles in scoring goals and keeping them out.
“First of all Tommy was saying that we went on a good cup run and luckily we did do that, then more of our goals would be take points off the top teams and we did that as well and most home games to win and more clean sheets, look we’ve accomplished that and Coombesey (Niamh Coombes) was brilliant in goals for us this year as well and obviously Emily Corbet was on fire so yeah we were lucky to have those two. Madi (Maddison Gibson) is a brilliant player, the opposition against her oh I wouldn’t want to be them but yeah she’s unreal, she knows where the net is as well.”
Very little change has occurred in the Athlone squad since the season, the players almost have a special ability knowing where each other will play and be able to anticipate them being a part of the line-up, losing Fiona Owens was a major loss for them this year, but Hennessy believes the competitive nature of training and the way Hewitt has set up the squad has everyone fighting for their place, despite regular starters being in the team list every week.
“One of our starters Fiona Owens, she done her ACL and she was a big loss for awhile they were putting players in and trying to find someone to cover for her, but to be honest Fiona is a massive loss for us and hopefully she will be back as soon as possible, we did have a normal like starting team but still training was so competitive like everyone is fighting for a spot, Tommy made sure that there is two for every position so it does keep training high intensity and competitive, it is good that you do have the normal like starters the likes of Muireann (Devaney) and Laurie (Ryan) that will drive the team on as well so, those scenarios it is good.”
One cannot mention Devaney or Ryan and not single both out for their incredible work rates to play both Ladies Gaelic football, along with both having active roles in the Athlone squad, Devaney had a starring role for cub Glencar-Manorhamilton as they lost their Connacht Semi Final last weekend, Devaney active 24 hours after the last day of the WNL season, something she has done all summer.
Ryan is at the centre of the Banner Ladies footballer’s backline but will have to miss their Munster final against Ballymaccarby of Waterford, after they failed to approve to have the fixture re fixed, Roisin Molloy is another who has also played GAA this year also, while it may come as an issue for awesome clubs Hennessy has no issue with teammates playing another sport as they turn up for training every week.
“I think Tommy to be fair is very open minded about playing Gaelic, the girls never miss a training, they never miss a game so I think everyone on the team like me I don’t mind them playing gaelic at all, just because they don’t miss training so they’re doing nothing wrong in my eyes if that makes any sense, we haven’t had any troubles or problems with it I know Laurie is missing her Munster Final on Sunday, that is unfortunate for her but other than that I don’t think there’s ever really been a problem with it at all or anything like that so we’re lucky in that scenario like.”
Sunday in Tallaght will be a huge day for Athlone, the ultimate underdogs coming up against the back-to-back league champions, Athlone have had that fighting spirit in them this season and their motto of not fearing anyone has served them well, Hennessy says being the underdog will help them going into the decider, as they are brimming with confidence and are ready to get stuck into it.
“I think being an underdog suits us better, like I know everyone’s saying oh it’ll be a close game and all but realistically everyone knows Shelbourne more than Athlone, Shelbourne have won back to back leagues and fair dues to them that’s a hard thing to do, so they are well established team and club, so look going into the final likes it’s going to be tough but we’ve confidence like everyone says like we don’t fear anyone, we respect everyone Shelbourne are a great team but we’ll be going in nothing to lose yeah so look we’re just really looking forward to it.”
Full Interview on this week’s WNL Podcast:
Diarmuid Kearney
Diarmuid Kearney is a freelance Sports Journalist based in Co Kerry. He has more than 5 years experience covering domestic and international soccer for different media organisations, while also working for local and national print and digital organisations covering GAA.