Assistant Town boss apologises to fans after record defeat

ATHLONE Town suffered their heaviest ever home defeat last Saturday, losing 0-7 to Cork City in the Airtricity First Division - and afterwards a totally dejected Padraig Moran (assistant manager) refused to hold back when questioned about the team's abject performance. A lack of desire, hunger and enthusiasm was mentioned by the former Derry City and Sligo Rovers star, who also apologised unreservedly to Athlone supporters for the display. "I haven't criticised players all season. We even made allowances at times, but there's no way I can say anything other than that performance was embarrassing," said a clearly disheartened Moran. "There was a lack of desire, hunger and enthusiasm - a lack of everything really - and the players need to look at themselves seriously. Any defeat is hard to take - at least it should be - but a 7-0 home defeat, at this level, has to hurt and be embarrassing. If players aren't hurting after that, then they shouldn't be in the game. I'm fuming inside, and I'm very embarrassed about the result. It just shouldn't happen at this level. "Bizarrely, we were comfortable for the opening half hour, but once the opening goal went in, the players completely caved in. They collapsed and their heads dropped, and they showed a total lack of character, and poor mental strength, in that they never reacted to what was happening. They got a complete runaround and didn't seem bothered about it. That's extremely worrying and the management, who take responsibility too, after all we put the players on the pitch, will be looking closely at the reaction of the players over the coming weeks. "I can only apologise to Athlone supporters (for the performance against Cork). They're the ones I feel really sorry for. They pay money to watch their team, and don't forget it means a lot to some people, and to see a performance like that must be extremely worrying and frustrating. It was a complete embarrassment and shouldn't be accepted. To just fold and accept what happened was shocking [on the players behalf]. Even if things aren't going well, and you're not playing well as an individual, you knuckle down and make it difficult for your opponent. But our lads didn't even do that! Nobody expects miracles from Athlone players, but they're entitled to expect a bit of effort, a small bit of harrying, and to put the opponent under pressure, but that was sadly lacking," added Moran. The Athlone native, however, was at pains to exclude the squad's younger players from his criticism. "I think we have to take the young lads completely out of the picture here," he said. "In fact, it was only when we brought on a couple of young lads in the second half that we started to play a bit of football. We can't hide behind having lots of young players. We had plenty of experienced players on the field, and there's no way that team should be beaten 7-0. Nobody stood up to the task, or showed anywhere near the right amount of character to stop what was happening, and the performance and attitude of the players has definitely put their Athlone careers in serious jeopardy," Moran said. As part of the management, Moran accepted his portion of blame for what happened last Saturday, but refused to accept that tactics or formations had anything to do with the outcome. Moran said he expects manager Mike Kerley (who was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press) to ring the changes against Longford Town this weekend, with a handful of youth team players possibly coming into the side. "I'd imagine there will be changes this weekend and for the rest of the season," Moran admitted. "Some people might criticise us for bringing in the youth team players at a difficult time, but I think they'll benefit long-term from playing first-team football," he added. At time of print, Athlone were unsure whether injured duo Jamie Carr and Noel McGee would be available for the Longford game, while Brian Collopy, Kevin Dunne and Niall Scullion remained sidelined with knocks. Athlone remain in eighth position in the First Division, and they appear pretty safe from finishing in the bottom two.