Williamson set to leave Athlone Town
by Kevin O'Neill Updated: Wednesday, 18th January, 2012 5:30pm
ATHLONE Town's pre-season plans suffered a setback this week with the news that last season's captain, Kevin Williamson, looks set to leave the club.
The 27-year-old, from Tullamore, is believed to be on the verge of signing for either Bohemians or Monaghan Utd, and the attraction of playing in the Premier Division is likely to entice the left-sided player away from Athlone.
Athlone manager Mike Kerley had hoped to secure Williamson's re-signing over the past few days, but now seems resigned to losing his skipper.
Williamson, who has had spells with both Bohemians and Monaghan in the past, will be a big loss to Athlone, having been a regular feature of the team over the last three seasons.
"Unfortunately, it looks very much like we're going to lose Kevin, and he's going to sign for a Premier Division team," said manager Mike Kerley.
The Athlone manager's problems don't stop there, however, as a certain amount of confusion currently surrounds the re-signing of 18-year-old defender Joe Woods. And at time of going to print, Kerley also had no goalkeepers at the club.
It was thought last week that Woods had signed a new contract with the club, but Kerley has clarified the issue.
"We had a team meeting last week and there was loads of players coming in and out of my office. I gave Joe a form to sign and he went to another room to do so. Unfortunately, and I only became aware of it at the weekend, Joe actually went home without signing. I don't really know how, but he isn't signed at the moment. However, I spoke to Joe again at the weekend, and while he told me Salthill Devon and Mervue Utd have contacted him, he told me he wants to stay with Athlone. He's been offered an improved deal to last season, but the problem for Joe is that he's now based in Galway, and has the travelling element to consider. Obviously, we want Joe to stay. We gave him an opportunity to play first-team football last season, and would love to see him continue his development with Athlone," said Kerley.
Goalkeeper Brian Collopy, who played a handful of games for the club last season, filled the number one jersey for last Wednesday's opening pre-season match, a 4-1 victory against IT Carlow. But after the game, Collopy informed Kerley that increased work commitments will make him unavailable to sign. Athlone recently lost last season's regular netminder, Micheál Schlingermann, to Monaghan Utd.
This leaves Kerley devoid of goalkeeping options, but he hopes to make some progress on the goalkeeping issue before this evening's friendly against Limerick FÁS at Lissywollen (7.30pm).
"We've spoken to five or six potential new goalkeepers, and we're going to have to make progress quickly, because it's such a specialist position," said Kerley.
Following last week's positive re-acquisition of centre-back Brian McCarthy from Limerick, Kerley looked at a few trialists in the win over IT Carlow, during which Mark Sherlock netted a hat-trick. Youngster Aaron Dully - a nephew of former Athlone, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne star Padraig 'Dutchy' Dully - scored Athlone's other goal.
One of the trialists, 17-year-old midfielder Sean Guerins, has since signed for Athlone from his former club, Blackcastle Utd of Templemore.
Kerley said: "Sean is a player with good potential, and is keen to play in the league. He's a big, strong lad for his age, and will be in and around the squad."
Kerley said he needs a few more games to analyse a couple of other trialists, while he also hoped, at time of print, to have reached agreements with Paul Danaher and Jason Hughes by the middle of the week. Kerley said there's been no progress in the case of Garvan Broughall, who was recently offered a contract by Athlone, but that he still hopes Broughall will rejoin the club.
Kerley also sees no difficulty in re-signing last season's top-scorer Noel McGee.
"Noel recently got into the army and is currently in training and confined to barracks. But that's the only reason a contract hasn't been signed, and as far as I'm aware Noel's looking forward to coming back for the season," said Kerley.
The likes of Jamie Carr, Declan Fallon and Ian Sweeney are also expected to pen new deals in the near future.
New signing Brian McCarthy didn't play against IT Carlow, with Kerley keen to look at trialists and youth team players, but trained with the squad at the weekend.
Kerley has also confirmed the club made initial contact with Ballinasloe Town striker Liam Lynch, who they were also interested in signing last season, but now that Lynch is based in Galway, his signing could prove difficult. However, Kerley said he's keen to get Lynch to turn out for Athlone in one of their upcoming friendly matches. Another potential Athlone signing, Neil Harney, has joined Bohemians after his release from St Patrick's Athletic.
As well as playing Limerick FÁS this evening (Wednesday), Athlone have pencilled in pre-season matches against Premier Division Drogheda Utd on Friday, February 4, at Lissywollen (7.30pm), and Sligo Rovers on Saturday, February 19 at the Showgrounds (4pm).
Kerley is also expected to arrange some friendlies against local junior outfits in the coming weeks.
