Athlone slump to another defeat at the hands of Fingal

ON a freezing cold night at Lissywoollen last Tuesday week, struggling Athlone Town produced a truly inept performance when losing out by a single goal to Sporting Fingal. With the possibility of relegation - albeit only slight at this late stage of the season - still looming large over Athlone, this nightmare performance did nothing to soothe the fears of those supporters currently questioning the team"s future as a First Division club. If anything, the display only served to outline the limitations of an Athlone team operating off one of the lowest playing budgets in the division, and with further cutbacks rumoured to be coming into play at the club in 2009, one can only speculate that there could be a further dip in quality at Lissywoollen next season. God only knows how such a scenario will further affect attendances and attitudes towards the club, but with support currently at an all-time low - and apathy at an all-time high - the very future of the club at this level is now being called into question in some quarters. The Town have failed miserably to challenge in the top half of the First Division since Liam Buckley"s side contested for promotion in 2001. Ironically, Buckley is now in charge of Sporting Fingal and has made a good fist of challenging for promotion in the club"s debut campaign, albeit on a vastly greater playing budget than the majority of First Division clubs. To make matters worse for a lacklustre Athlone, Fingal played the closing 35 minutes of a very unentertaining encounter with just ten men after centre back Barry Ferguson was sent off for a second booking. However, Athlone failed quite miserably to make Fingal pay for their numerical disadvantage and deserved nothing from a desperately poor showing in front of probably the lowest attendance of the season at Lissywollen. Although the Town went close in the latter stages through Noel McGee and Jason McCartney, they failed badly, almost embarrassingly at times, to convert their clear second-half superiority in terms of possession into goalscoring opportunities. Indeed, probably the worst thing that happened Athlone was Fingal getting reduced to ten men, as it did nothing but show up their limitations when in possession. After Ferguson"s dismissal, Fingal just sat back and allowed Athlone have the ball for vast periods. But a galling lack of ideas going forward exposed Athlone as nothing more than a team of hardened grafters, with little in the way of imagination or creativity in the final sector of the field. Despite Ferguson"s sending off, ten-man Fingal saw out the final 35 minutes of the game with relative comfort and maintained their faint hopes of winning promotion to the Premier Division. These sides have now met on four occasions in what is Fingal"s debut campaign in the League of Ireland, and Liam Buckley"s team have triumphed over Athlone each time. A victory for Athlone would have left them ten points clear of bottom placed Kildare and virtually ensured a place in the League of Ireland for next season, but the Town never looked motivated enough for the task ahead and slipped to a tame defeat. The only goal of the game arrived in the 51st minute when Conan Byrne volleyed past Ciaran Kelly from a difficult angle outside the box. Otherwise, there was very little to report. Fingal midfielder Colm James had the game"s first shot on target but his 25-yard effort was straight at Ciaran Kelly. Tenacious defender Barry Ferguson received his first booking in the 17th minute for a tackle from behind on David O"Dowd. The remainder of the opening half petered out, though, with Athlone threatening briefly through Robbie Hamm"s long range shot and a David O"Dowd looping header, which almost caught out Fingal "keeper Brendan Clarke. In general though, Fingal looked a shadow of the side that defeated Athlone on three previous occasions this season and clearly missed the attacking pairing of Robbie Doyle and Peter Hynes. Athlone"s Noel McGee and Fingal winger Chris Doran swapped chances early in the second half, before the away side broke the deadlock on 51 minutes. A long punt forward by Fingal netminder Brendan Clarke caught Robbie Hamm out of position and Conan Byrne capitalised by firing a first-time volley into the roof of the net from just outside the penalty area. Athlone were soon boosted when Barry Ferguson received a second yellow card for clattering into the back of Joey Maloney. Shortly afterwards, the Town introduced young forward Ian Coffey for Maloney and deployed a three-man attack. Eric Lavine was also brought into the fray on 71 minutes and, despite spending large portions of the second half merely huffing and puffing without creating good chances, the Town almost forced an equaliser on 73 minutes. Colm Jinks forced the ball into the path of Noel McGee but his first-touch was disappointing and allowed Brendan Clarke to block his eventual effort at goal. A frustrated Jason McCartney received Athlone"s only booking of the night on 82 minutes after he slammed the ball to the ground after conceding a throw-in. It was McCartney who almost snatched an unlikely draw for Athlone during injury time but his looping effort from outside the box was tipped over the crossbar by Brendan Clarke. Athlone Town: Ciaran Kelly; Ian Rossiter; Robbie Hamm; Des Hope; Philip Reilly; Colm Jinks; Anthony Hayes; Joey Maloney; David O"Dowd; Noel McGee; Jason McCartney. Subs: Ian Coffey for Maloney (59 mins); Eric Lavine for O"Dowd (71); Carmine Russo for Hayes (78). Sporting Fingal: Brendan Clarke; Brian Gannon; John Frost; Barry Ferguson; Philip Byrne; Colm James; Paul Caffrey; Conan Byrne; Paul Byrne; Daniel Corcoran; Chris Doran. Subs: Derek Tyrell for Corcoran (56 mins); Peter Hynes for Paul Byrne (93). Referee: Paul Caschera.