Athlone Town appoint new women's head coach

Athlone Town have appointed Lily Agg as their new women’s first team head coach.

Agg (33) is an Irish international who has played professional football for the last 14 years in the UK and Germany, with clubs including Brighton & Hove Albion, Frankfurt, London City Lionesses and Birmingham City.

In a statement this evening, Athlone Town FC said she was appointed on a two-and-a-half-year agreement.

The club said she would join on a full-time basis “as part of a long-term strategy to continue competing at the highest level in Irish football”

Athlone Town AFC Technical Director Brian Shelley welcomed the appointment: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Lily to Athlone Town AFC. Throughout the process, Lily stood out through her professionalism, standards, ambition, and clear vision for how she wants her teams to play and develop. We believe she is an outstanding appointment for our football club.

This is a significant moment for Athlone Town AFC. Appointing a full-time Women’s Head Coach on a long-term agreement demonstrates the ambition, stability, and commitment we have towards building something special within the women’s programme.

We want to continue driving standards, developing players, competing for trophies, and creating an environment that people across Irish football recognise and respect. We are excited for the journey ahead and believe Lily will have a major impact both within our club and within the wider women’s game in Ireland.”

Her appointment comes more than two months after John Sullivan left the club in the wake of Athlone’s opening women’s league fixture. An interim management team has been in place in the intervening period.

CEO Steven Gray said it was “a long thorough recruitment process”.

“Our women’s team deserve the best possible candidate available to us. From the moment we spoke to Lily, we knew. She is a lovely person first and foremost and we are happy that she will take care of all players and staff.

"Secondly, her ambition, knowledge, energy and attention to detail is exactly what we are looking for. She will lead the group with heart, class and expertise. We cannot wait to get her in the building.”

Lily said: “I’m beyond excited to be joining Athlone. From the very first conversations with Steven and Brian I was so impressed with the club’s ambitions and can’t wait to join this incredible team.”

The club said there would be an official introduction and media day, for which details would be confirmed later.

Agg, who was part of the Irish squad at the 2023 Women's World Cup, sustained a serious ACL injury in January 2025 and having recovered she moved on loan with Durham City in the Women's Super League 2, where she ruptured an achilles just weeks later.