Ex-Athlone star Brady signs for new club

Former Athlone Town star striker Kelly Brady has departed English club Crystal Palace and signed for leading Scottish outfit Glasgow City.

US-born Brady, 24, was a revelation with Athlone in the 2026-26 season, scoring 26 times in all competitions as the Town won a League and Cup double.

Her form with Athlone earned her a call-up to the Republic of Ireland senior women's squad, but she has not been involved at international level since leaving for Crystal Palace, where her first-team opportunities were extremely limited as Palace earned promotion to the Women's Super League.

There had been some hope locally that Brady might return to Athlone colours after she was seen attending a few Town matches recently.

However, Brady now has an opportunity to relaunch her career as she signs for one of Scotland's leading women's teams. The coaches at Glasgow City will be well aware of Brady and her attacking prowess, after they faced Athlone in last season's UEFA Women's Europa Cup.

She told the Glasgow City FC website: ““I’m thrilled to join Glasgow City. I look forward to competing at the top of the table with this team.”

Glasgow City head coach Leanne Ross added: "I'm really happy to add somebody with Kelly's prowess in front of goal to the squad and she is a player we have admired for a long time. We knew over the summer that it was an area of the squad we wanted to strengthen and Kelly undoubtedly does that."

Athlone, meanwhile, are flying out to Poland today (Monday) to prepare for the opening round of the 2026 Women's Champions League. They will face North Macedonia's ZFK Skopje on Wednesday morning in the semi-final of the first qualifying round. If Athlone progress, as they managed last season, they will face either KÍ Klaksvík (Finland) or Nike Lusso (Georgia) in a final the following Saturday. And if successful in that fixture, Athlone will then face Cypriot champions Apollon LFC in the second qualifying round.