Athlone Town duo Madison Gibson, left, and Dana Scheriff, both of whom were Women’s Premier Division Team of the Year award recipients, pictured during the PFA Ireland Awards at Anantara The Marker Hotel in Dublin. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Athlone Town duo selected on Team of the Year

Kieran Galvin

Published: Fri 15 Dec 2023, 11:44 AM

Last updated: Fri 15 Dec 2023, 12:01 PM

After winning the FAI Women's Cup in dramatic fashion last month, it's no surprise that Athlone Town have been in contention for a number of individual awards.

At the recent PFA Ireland Awards for 2023, Athlone Town's Madison Gibson and her fellow American Dana Scheriff were selected on the Women’s Premier Division Team of the Year.

It emerged this week that Gibson has re-signed for next season which is a boost for Athlone's plans for the 2024 campaign.

In last month's 2023 SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division Awards, Scheriff was chosen on the Team of the Year, having claimed the Golden Boot award as top scorer.

At the same event, Athlone Town defender Mary Phillips was honoured as the WU17 LOI Academy Player of the Year.

Meanwhile, Scheriff and Athlone Town manager Ciarán Kilduff were among the nominees for the Women's Personality of the Year at the Soccer Writers Ireland awards banquet held in the Dublin Royal Convention Centre last Friday.

However, the award went to Peamount United's Karen Duggan, whose teammate Erin McLaughlin and team manager James O'Callaghan were also nominated. The other nominee was experienced Ireland international Áine O'Gorman of Shamrock Rovers.

The Men's Personality of the Year award went to Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley for the third successive year.

The aforementioned Kilduff is currently seeking a new assistant manager, with Ken Kiernan having been recently appointed as the new manager of Bohemians women's first team.

Former Athlone Town player and Westmeath native Jessica Hennessy was selected on the Women’s Premier Division Team of the Year as part of the PFA Ireland awards and the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division Awards. Hennessy now plays for Shamrock Rovers, having joined the Dublin club following the 2022 season.