Athlone Town A.F.C.
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| Athlone Town | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Athlone Town Association Football Club |
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| Nickname(s) | The Town | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1887 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | St. Mel's Park, Athlone, County Westmeath |
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| Capacity | 3,000 (200 seats) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Ken Bryan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Micheal O' Connor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Eircom First Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | 10th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Athlone Town A.F.C. is an Irish football club playing in the Football League of Ireland. The club was founded in 1887 and elected to the league in 1922, hails from Athlone and play their home matches at St. Mel's Park. Club colours are Blue and Black. Their current manager is Michael O'Connor.
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[edit] History
Athlone first competed in the League of Ireland in the 1922-1923 season finishing sixth. They competed in the league until 1925 and not again until the 1969-1970 season. Athlone Town won the FAI cup, their first domestic success in 1924 beating Fordsons. The club finished second in the league in the 1974-1975 season earning a place in the UEFA cup, the first time they had ever qualified for European competition. Their first round game was against Norwegian side Valarengen who they beat. Athlones second round tie was against Italian side AC Milan drawing 0-0 in the first leg at St. Mels Park setting a record attendance of 9,000 before losing the second leg at the San Siro 3-0.
Athlone won their first league title in the 1980-1981 season. They played KB Copenhagen in Europe the following season earning a draw in the first leg in Denmark and again at St. Mel Park going out on the away goal rule.
In 1981-1982 season Athlone Town won the League cup for the second time beating Shamrock Rovers. However they failed to retain their league title that year finishing 4th. Athlone Town were again crowned league champions in the 1982-1983 season and qualifying for Europe and also retained the League cup beating Dundalk F.C. . Their opponents in Europe on this occasion were Belgian outfit Standard Liège, losing 3-2 at home and 8-2 in Liège.
In 1985 six new clubs were elected to the league increasing the leagues participation to 22. As a result the current two Division (Premier and First) structure was adapted with Athlone Town in Premier division. In 1987 the club finished last and were relegated to the first division. Their stay there was short, finishing top of Division One the following season, gaining promotion to the Premier Division. The club remained in the top flight until the 1991-1992 season finishing eleventh and were subsequently relegated to the First Division.
Athlone Town again gained promotion to the Premier Division in the 1993-1994 season, finishing runners-up to Sligo Rovers that season. The club were once again relegated in 1996, narrrowly missing out on promotion in 2001 by one point to Monaghan United.
Athlone Town are currently building a new 6,000 seater stadium which they plan to move into next season (2007).
[edit] Current Squad
- Manager: Michael O' Connor
- Assistant: Seamus Hayes
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Both Alan Kelly and Anthony Hayes received call ups to the Irish Colleges International side in 2006.
[edit] Honours
- Premier League Titles: 2:
- 1980-81, 1982-83
- Division One League Titles:1
- 1987-1988
- FAI Cup: 1
- 1924
- League Cups: 3
- 1979-80, 1981-82, 1982-83
[edit] European Competition
Round One
Athlone Town A.F.C. 4-2 Vålerenga (Norway) 3-1 (Home leg) 1-1 (Away Leg)
Round Two
Athlone Town A.F.C. 0-3 A.C. Milan 0-0 (Home Leg) 0-3 (Away Leg)
Round One
KB Copenhagen(Denmark) 3 - 3 Athlone Town FC 1 - 1 (Away Leg) 2 - 2 (Home Leg)
KB Copenhagen won on away goals
Round One
Athlone Town FC 4 - 11 Standard Liège (Belgium) 2 - 3 (Home Leg) 2 - 8 (Away leg)
[edit] Notable Players
[edit] John Connellan
A current member of the Athlone youth team, John has represented the Republic of Ireland at Under-18 level.
[edit] Johnny Keena
Johnny played for Athlone Town for twenty years at one stage captaining the side and also spent a furhter thirty years with the club in an administrative capacity. In 1969 Johnny was appointed Joint Treasurer, the same year Athlone achieved full League of Ireland status and he served on the Club Committee also at the time. In 1979 he was Acting Secretary and Treasurer. He was Vice-Chairman, Treasurer and the club's League Representative in 1982/83 the year Athlone won the league title for the second time in which his son played as a goalkeeper during the following European campaign. Johnny was chairman of the club in 1985 and was also was appointed Club President and the club's FAI Representative also being elected to the FAI Executive Council. He also served with the Leinster Football Association. He was a Trustee of the club until his death.
[edit] Noel Larkin
Noel Larkin's clubs included Athlone Town, Shamrock Rovers and Derry City F.C. winning six League of Ireland titles, four FAI Cups, and four League Cups, as well as a Tyler All-Ireland Cup, making him Athlone's most successful ever footballer. Noel joined Athlone when was 16 making his debut in 1971 and I made my senior team debut at the age of 17 against Shelbourne at Tolka Park. He played in Athlones European campaign of 1975. He won league titles with Athlone in the 1980-1981 and 1982-1983 season. Noel won win three league and cup doubles with Shamrock Rovers before moving onto Derry City F.C. winning the League, League Cup and FAI Cup in the same season. Noel moved to Australia at 34 and played Speanvood Dalmatina and Sterling Macedonia, winning another League and Cup double before retiring at 38 then coaching until 1998.
[edit] Eric Lavine 2006-present
Barbados International, previous clubs include Longford Town and Galway United
[edit] Eric Molloy 2002-present
Eric was a member of the Manchester United academy representing Ireland from Under 15 - Under 17 level and was unlucky to miss out on a place in Irish Under 16 squad that captured the European Championships in Scotland in 1998 due to injury. He was released in 2002 and was linked to a move to many clubs in England before returning home and spending a short time with Athlone Town and moving onto Longford Town before returning for a second stint at Athlone Town.
[edit] Kevin Mahon
Viewed by many Athlone Town fans as the most skillful player to have represented the club. He joined the club at 16 turning down English side Arsenal. While he did not win anything with Athlone, Kevin did win League titles with U.S.A. league side New York Apollos and Dundalk F.C. Kevin also played for Finn Harps, Thurles Town F.C., Coleraine F.C. and Derry City before entering management with Derry City. Under his management Derry won the League Cup in 1999 beating Athlone as well as winning the FAI cup in 2001.
[edit] Ian Rossiter 2006-present
Ian Rossiter represented the Republic of Ireland up to Under-21 level and was a member of Brian Kerr's Under-16 European Championship winning side in 1998.
[edit] Attendances
2004 Average:291 Highest:434
2005 Average:316 Highest:600
2006 Average:305 Highest:2,000 (V Monaghan United)
Record attendance: 9,000 V AC Milian UEFA cup Second Round 1975
[edit] External links
| Football League of Ireland 2006 |
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| Premier League |
| Bohemians | Bray Wanderers | Cork City | Derry City | Drogheda United | Longford Town |
| Shelbourne | Sligo Rovers | St. Patrick's Athletic | UCD | Waterford United | |
| First Division |
| Athlone Town | Cobh Ramblers | Dundalk | Finn Harps | Galway United | Kildare County |
| Kilkenny City | Limerick | Monaghan United | Shamrock Rovers |
