Athlone Town’s miserable run of form continued at Lissywollen on Monday evening as the Midlanders were dumped out of the FAI Cup by Sheriff YC.
The non-league Dublin side have been highly impressive in the FAI Junior Cup during the past decade and they eventually prevailed following a tight third-round replay which went to penalties after extra time.
Sheriff goalkeeper Lee Murphy proved to be the hero for the visitors, who claimed a 4-3 success in the shoot-out as Derek Doyle and Aidan Friel missed penalties for Athlone. With an FAI Cup quarter-final away to Longford Town the prize for the victors, Athlone were left reflecting on what might have been.
Alan Mathews’ side face a tough trip to St Colman’s Park on Saturday for an SSE Airtricity League First Division game with Cobh Ramblers. Three Athlone league defeats in a row means they have slipped to sixth in the table behind an improving Cobh side.
Worryingly, Athlone have only won once since June when stunning promotion chasing Wexford Youths last month.
Athlone have only posted one victory in their three most recent games against Cobh, who thumped the Midlanders 4-1 at Lissywollen in July. Back in March when hope and expectation were attached to Athlone’s campaign they strolled to a convincing four-goal success over Cobh, who have made significant strides since then.
