Sunderland hit Athlone Town for six in front of record crowd at Lissywoollen

OVER 4,000 spectators turned out at Lissywoollen last Thursday night as Roy Keane"s Sunderland bandwagon rolled into town. Almost 1,000 followers of Sunderland were in attendance to see Sunderland put Athlone Town to the sword in a most merciless fashion, with cracking second-half goals from Grant Leadbitter and the recently signed El Hadji Diouf proving the highlights of a totally one-sided affair. Sunderland were preparing for their first English Premier League match of the season this weekend against Liverpool and although Athlone"s players tried their upmost on the occasion, Sunderland"s far superior skills and levels of sharpness were there for all to see. Roy Keane"s side managed to score six times but the truth is they could easily have netted another six had it not been for the excellence of Athlone goalkeepers Ciaran Kelly and Ritchie Fitzgibbon. The occasion was always going to be better than the contest and whether or not the run-out was actually of much use to either side at this particular stage of the year is hugely debatable. However, Athlone Town will view the occasion as a huge success for the club who are expected to boost their coffers with a tasty five-figure sum after managing the occasion with much class and precise organisation. The game was always bound to attract the highest crowd ever to Lissywoollen and the club ensured the stadium was in pristine condition for a memorable occasion. The predicted onslaught began in the opening minute when former Manchester Utd midfielder Kieran Richardson burst into the Athlone penalty area and took a piercing pass from the excellent Steed Malbranque before comfortably slotting the ball past Ciaran Kelly into the net. Anthony Stokes, one of two Irish players in Sunderland"s starting line-up, almost doubled the lead but Nigel Keady made a fine block. But the North East side made it 2-0 after only ten minutes. Ciaran Kelly made a sound save to his right to keep out Stokes" initial free kick, but Michael Chopra pounced on the loose ball and drilled a fine effort into the far corner of the net. Athlone couldn"t live with their opponents and did well to steady the ship until half-time thanks to a string of good saves from Ciaran Kelly and also some last-gasp defending from Nigel Keady, Philip Reilly and Ian Rossiter. Liam Miller, Carlos Edwards, Dean Whitehead, Chopra, Malbranque and Stokes all had good chances before the interval and an Athlone side run ragged by Sunderland were relieved to take some respite in the comfort of the dressing room at half-time. With Athlone"s league match against Monaghan Utd three days later, Dermot Lennon made nine changes during the second half as Sunderland continued their never-ending assault on the Town"s goal. Within minutes of the restart, substitute goalkeeper Ritchie Fitzgibbon was pawing away a Kieran Richardson free kick, before the reserve netminder somehow kept out Michael Chopra"s effort from point blank range. Nigel Keady did great defensive work to deny Chopra a clear run on goal after a neat through ball by Stokes, before Fitzgibbon acrobatically went full stretch to push away a hard drive by Chopra. On 63 minutes, though, Fitzgibbon had little chance as Chopra again found room outside the Athlone box and drove a near unstoppable drive into the bottom corner of the net. Fitzgibbon was making a first appearance between the posts for Athlone and made further good saves from Chopra, Malbranque and Grant Leadbitter. However, Fitzgibbon was totally helpless when Leadbitter unleashed a deadly drive from 25 yards that rattled into the top corner of the net. Young left back Michael Liddle crashed a volley against the Athlone post as Sunderland produced wave after wave of attack. Athlone couldn"t get anywhere near their highly paid opponents and El Hadji Diouf made it 5-0 in the 88th minute with another great strike from distance. Anthony Stokes was then denied by more decent work from the overworked Fitzgibbon. A mistake by Des Hope allowed Sunderland to make it 6-0 in the final minute, with Irish forward Daryl Murphy tapping into an empty net. Athlone Town: Ciaran Kelly; Ian Rossiter; Philip Reilly; Nigel Keady; Jim Sheridan; Carmine Russo; Colm Jinks; Joey Maloney; Johnny Mernagh; Ian Coffey; Jason McCartney. Subs Used: Ritchie Fitzgibbon, Des Hope, Robbie Hamm, Eric Lavine, Noel McGee, Declan Fallon, Niall Scullion, Darren Young and Anthony Hayes. Sunderland: Darren Ward; Dean Whitehead; Michael Liddle; Pascal Chimbonda; Danny Higginbottom; Liam Miller; Kieran Richardson; Carlos Edwards; Michael Chopra; Anthony Stokes; Steed Malbranque. Subs Used: Marton Fulop, Grant Leadbitter, Daryl Murphy, El Hadji Diuof and Danny Collins. Referee: John McLoughlin.