Athlone Town Reach FAI Cup Final Again as Matthaiou Shines in Shoot-Out
Athlone Town are back in the FAI Cup final. Again. Five in a row now for the holders, who survived a ferocious Galway United challenge and 120 draining minutes before finally breaking free on penalties to book yet another showdown with title rivals Shelbourne.
This will be the fourth time in that remarkable sequence of finals that Athlone and Shelbourne collide. There was nothing routine about getting there.
Strickland strikes, Galway hit back
Athlone burst out of the blocks like a team determined to finish the job early.
Nine minutes in, they were in front. Madie Gibson, back from injury and immediately on the front foot, snapped into a challenge in midfield and launched a blistering counter. Suddenly it was three v one, Izzy Ryan tearing clear down the right with Alexis Strickland screaming for the ball in the middle. Ryan’s cross just ran away from her, allowing Amanda McQuillan to gather and Galway to breathe.
The reprieve lasted only moments.
From what looked a harmless situation, panic spread through the Galway back line. Niamh Farrelly’s tackle in midfield knocked the ball back towards her own goal, and Strickland pounced. She read it quicker than anyone, forced a collision between the onrushing McQuillan and the retreating Jade Rehberger, and when the ball broke loose, the striker rolled it home with calm precision.
Athlone, fresh from navigating a tricky midweek clash with Peamount United, showed no hint of tired legs. Even without top scorer Dana Scheriff, they carried a real edge, Gibson’s aggression and Strickland’s pace stretching Galway.
Yet Galway refused to wilt. Missing 14-goal forward Emma Doherty and the suspended Remini Tillotson, they still carried the swagger of the only side to beat Lily Agg’s team in the league this season. They almost levelled in style when Abbie Callanan met a bouncing ball outside the area and crashed a stunning volley off the outside of the post, with Maria Matthaiou rooted.
The game hardened into a scrap. Tackles flew in, space vanished, and while Galway saw more of the ball, Matthaiou stayed largely untroubled. At the other end, Strickland kept running, kept asking questions.
Griffin produces a moment of genius
Half-time did nothing to cool the temperature. Galway came back out snarling, pressing higher, letting fly from distance and forcing Athlone to drop deeper.
Yet the clearest chance after the restart fell to the hosts. Slick interplay down the left freed Gibson, who whipped a perfect cross onto Strickland’s head. Her looping header beat McQuillan but not the woodwork, thundering off the crossbar and away. It felt like a turning point.
It was. Just not in the way Athlone wanted.
With just over 15 minutes left, substitute Cara Griffin stepped into the spotlight. Picking up the ball on the right side of the box, she shaped to shoot, sold her marker, then curled a glorious effort into the far top corner. Matthaiou could only watch. Galway’s bench exploded. The tie was alive again.
Athlone, staring at extra-time at the end of a three-game week, tried to wrestle it back before the whistle. Ryan went close. Hannah Waesch did too. Both times McQuillan stood tall, producing high-class saves in the dying moments to drag the game into an extra 30 minutes.
Penalties decide a brutal contest
Extra-time never lost its edge. Legs tired, minds didn’t. Challenges stayed sharp, but neither side could find the final pass or the clean strike to settle it. Penalties felt inevitable.
Galway went first in the shoot-out. The opening four kicks from each side were flawless, tension rising with every net ripple. Then came the break.
Isabella Beletic stepped up and lifted her effort over the bar, agonisingly high. The door was open.
Roisin Molloy walked through it, drilling her kick home to make it 3-2 and heap the pressure back on Galway. Both teams converted their next attempts. That left Farrelly, who had been at the heart of so much of the earlier drama, needing to score to keep Galway alive.
She couldn’t. Matthaiou guessed right, saved low, and disappeared under a wave of Athlone bodies. The holders were through. Again.
Galway, brave and relentless, leave with nothing tangible but a performance that underlined exactly why they’ve lost just once in the league all season. Athlone leave with something far more familiar: another date with Shelbourne, another final, another chance to stretch a remarkable era just a little bit longer.
