Athlone Town boss praises supporters as second home game of the season looms large
Kevin O'Neill
Athlone Town FC manager Ian Ryan praised the club's supporters ahead of Friday's Airtricity League First Division clash against Wexford FC (7.45pm) – and urged them to continue backing his side as they bid to continue an excellent start to the season.
Over 1,100 people turned up to watch Athlone beat Finn Harps in the opening league match a fortnight ago, and the Town followed that win up by beating Kerry FC last weekend.
“It's been a positive start. The players are working hard and have good togetherness. The crowd was great against Finn Harps and it gave a lot of players a sample of the potential in Athlone. We'd love to see that kind of crowd again on Friday and show them we are a team prepared to work hard for Athlone. We have had some really positive feedback from supporters in recent weeks and hopefully we can give them more to shout about as the season goes along,” said Ryan.
The Town boss will be without defender Oisin Hand through a hamstring injury and having already sat out the game against Kerry, he's expected to miss the next few fixtures, too.
That comes as a blow after impressive defender James Roche, a stand-out performer in the opening two games, was recalled from a loan spell by Shelbourne.
In his place comes two new signings, defenders James Crawford (formerly of Wexford FC) and Jonathan Kehir. Ryan is also confident Athlone can add another out-of-contract defender to the ranks in the next few days.
“Losing James Roche was a massive blow, to be honest,” said Ryan.
“We were only 48 hours away from keeping him, as the transfer window was closing last Monday night. But that's football and it's up to us to find solutions,” he added.
Otherwise, Athlone look to have every other player available for Friday's match against Wexford, who are managed by former Republic of Ireland attacker Stephen Elliott.
Wexford kicked-off the campaign with a brilliant away win against Cobh Ramblers, but were resoundingly beaten by clear title favourites Cork City last time out. Among their main threats will be recent signing Jake Doyle, who joined from UCD, and the usually prolific Mikey Rowe. Former Athlone centre-back Dylan Hand also recently joined Wexford.
“I wouldn't be reading into Wexford's result against Cork, who are the strongest squad in the league. Wexford has a lot of threats and we will be fully aware of them. Hopefully, we can build on what's been a great start to the season,” Ryan said.
Meanwhile, the club's women's U23 team will make its debut in the new League of Ireland Development League when hosting Bohemians this Sunday at (1pm, Athlone Town Stadium).
The new U23 Women's League replaces the U19 League and Athlone manager Dan Byrne has signed the following squad for the season ahead: Hope Glynn, Eva Fox, Siva Malassou, Grainne Feeney, Chloe Donnelly, Jasmine Kelly, Amelia Launders, Olivia Killkacke, Amy Kelly, Emily Craven, Mary Kate Maher, Michaela Hand, Niamh Dundon, Danielle O’Neill, Lucy Fitzgerald, Muireann Daly.