Athlone fail to exploit extra man

ATHLONE Town's disappointing record against Sporting Fingal continued last Saturday at a rain drenched Lissywoollen as the visitors claimed three valuable points in their continued promotion push. Although former Bohemians and Bournemouth defender Shaun Maher was dismissed after only 16 minutes, Fingal still managed to control much of the match and Athlone will be disappointed not to have taken advantage of the extra man. Even though Athlone made it 1-1 in the 35th minute through Andrei Georgescu's first goal for the club - a team goal of real quality it must be said - the Town never looked like kicking on and winning the match as Liam Buckley's side possessed too much strength and nous for Brendan Place's side. Athlone have now gone nine league games without victory and have only managed two wins in their last 19 outings in all competitions, both of which, incidentally, have come against First Division bottom side Kildare County. The First Division now enters its final round of matches with eleven games left to play and Athlone begin this series away to Mervue Utd on Saturday. Fingal had eliminated Athlone from the FAI Cup just a week earlier and have a supreme record against Athlone since entering the league last season, beating Athlone on each of the seven occasions the sides have met. Brendan Place made four changes from the side which slumped to a 4-1 loss in the FAI Cup with Kieran O'Reilly, Anthony Hayes, Stephen Place and David Tyrrell making way for Mark Salmon, Tom O'Halloran, David O'Connor and Austin Skelly. Top scorer Noel McGee was unavailable due to a one game suspension. Fingal made a couple of changes themselves with John Frost replacing the injured Stephen Paisley and Shane McFaul returning from suspension to take Eric Foley's place in Fingal's attack-minded five man midfield, in which Conan Byrne, Robert Bayly and Alan Kirby really excelled last Saturday. The visitors started very well and Conan Byrne almost got in behind Athlone's defence in the opening minute but Brian Cleary managed to halt his progress. On six minutes, Des Hope was unlucky to lose possession to Alan Kirby and he cut inside Luke Hardy before drilling a fine effort at goal which Alex O'Reilly turned around the post. The pressure was mounting on Athlone and a poor misjudgement by Hardy saw a chance open up for the exceptional Gary O'Neill, whose lovely lobbed effort beat O'Reilly but struck the upright. The ball bounced out to Byrne whose delicate cross from the right was headed goalwards by Shaun Williams but right back Niall O'Reilly cleared the ball off Athlone's goal line. Shaun Maher picked up the first of two yellow cards in the 10th minute and Athlone almost found themselves in front very much against the run of play, when Mark Salmon's brilliant long range drive was finger-tipped past the post by Darren Quigley. Nothing came of the resulting corner and Fingal broke downfield quickly with O'Neill almost forcing the ball home after a low cross by Kirby. Fingal took a deserved lead in the 13th minute when Williams dispossessed O'Connor and he set up Bayly to beat O'Reilly in tidy fashion. Athlone were gifted a route back in the game when Maher received a second yellow card on 16 minutes for tussling with Skelly. On 23 minutes, Salmon floated a good free kick to the back post but Skelly's header was too close to Quigley. But Athlone equalised in impressive fashion on 35 minutes. Salmon, Georgescu, Benson and O'Halloran were all involved before the latter's cross fell kindly to Georgescu at the back post and he converted from close range. A deluge of heavy rainfall washed down on Lissywoollen during the half-time interval and throughout the second half, making conditions very difficult for the players. But it was Fingal who coped better in the circumstances and they could have had a penalty on 56 minutes when Hope appeared to push O'Neill inside Athlone's penalty area but referee James McKell waved play on. Place withdrew O'Halloran eight minutes into the second half with Stephen Place taking his position up front. Kirby and Williams both had great chances to restore Fingal's lead but the visitors were guilty of some poor finishing. However, Athlone handed them a second goal on the hour mark when goalkeeper O'Reilly and left back Cleary failed to deal with a basic through ball and Byrne nipped in to score. Fingal went on to create a handful of half chances during the last half hour while Athlone's approach was often laboured and lacking genuine guile or direction. There were very few Athlone players to emerge from the game with much credit but Salmon does seem to be growing in stature with each match, while Skelly was his usual busy and committed self up front. A couple of crosses by O'Connor fell the way of substitute Stephen Place but the forward failed to hit the target on both occasions. Fingal are now six points behind the leaders Shelbourne while Athlone lie fourth from bottom with eleven matches remaining. Athlone Town: Alex O'Reilly; Niall O'Reilly, Brian Cleary, Luke Hardy, Des Hope, Mark Salmon, Tom O'Halloran, Andrei Georgescu, Austin Skelly, Robbie Benson, David O'Connor. Subs: Stephen Place for O'Halloran (53 mins), Robbie Hamm for N O'Reilly (61), Gary Murphy for O'Connor (85). Sporting Fingal: Darren Quigley; Brian Gannon, Lorcan Fitzgerald, Shaun Williams, Shaun Maher, John Frost, Conan Byrne, Robert Bayly, Gary O'Neill, Alan Kirby, Shane McFaul. Subs: Eamon Zayed for O'Neill (77 mins), Eric Foley for Byrne (89). Referee: James McKell.