Date with Dundalk to kick off new season for Athlone

By John Dingle

The 2025 League of Ireland season was launched last week at the Mansion House in Dublin ahead of what promises to be an exciting campaign that is set to reach its biggest ever audience. And the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division looks set to be hugely competitive with several sides eyeing promotion to the top tier.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent at the launch, Athlone head coach Dario Castelo reflected on the team’s preparations and hopes for the new season. The Town have already played two competitive games in the Leinster Senior Cup, together with a number of pre-season friendlies and Castelo is pleased at what he has seen.

“We are doing a good job, the players are working hard, and we all have the same objective. All our focus and motivation is the same,” he said.

Asked about the new signings made by Athlone, Castelo said: “We have built a competitive team, a balanced team with options for all the different positions. The players are great guys and a pleasure to work with as a group, and we are building a strong team.”

As to whether there will be any further signings before the start of the season, he responded: “In football, we never say that the team is ‘closed’ but at this moment I am very happy with the team we have, so I think most probably the squad will stay how it is.”

It was suggested earlier that Castelo would undertake further recruitment for younger players in his native Portugal but it appears that this idea has been dismissed, with Athlone opting instead to go for more experienced home-based players. “We prefer to bring in more experience for the competitions here. The players from other countries need more time to adapt and we need more experience to make my job easier,” said Castelo.

Like any coach, Castelo is keen that there is healthy competition for selection within the squad. “I like to work with two players for each position and we need to control and manage the group. In this situation, the player who is in the better moment (form) plays. They know they need to work hard to get back their positions on the pitch and everybody is important in the group. Everyone who works in the club, not only the players, we are all on the same page to get what we want.”

Athlone’s first game is away to Dundalk this Friday night (St Valentine’s Day), with the Louth club now having former Athlone women’s team manager Ciarán Kilduff in charge.

“All the games in this competition are difficult. Dundalk have a strong team like other teams, for us it’s a normal game and for us to win the game is our objective,” said Castelo about the opening test.

Athlone will be aiming for the play-offs again and improving on last season by securing promotion. “Of course we have our objectives. In the last two seasons, we have had the play-offs and part of our nature is to always want more. We have our internal objectives; we know what we want and for me personally I want more,” said Castelo.

The Town wrapped up their preparations last weekend with games against two Premier Division outfits. Bohemians were first up and the visitors to Lissywollen ran out easy winners with new signing Lys Mousset on target for the Gypsies. St Patrick’s Athletic then provided the opposition for the second time in 2025 and ran out winners by 3-1. Kyle Robinson kept up his recent fine goal scoring form by finding the target for the Town in the second half.

The league season kicks off on Friday with a visit to Oriel Park (7.45pm) to take on Dundalk, who set out for their campaign in the First Division for the first time since 2008. New manager Kilduff, in his attempt to revive Dundalk’s fortunes, has already raided his former club with goalkeeper Enda Minogue, Leo Gaxha and top scorer Dean Ebbe linking up with the Lilywhites.

Having been relegated last season, Kilduff’s men will be tipped to bounce back at the first attempt but nothing is guaranteed. The chase for automatic promotion in 2025 looks a lot tighter than in 2024 when Cork City ran away with the title.

In spite of finishing in fifth position, Bray Wanderers were the team that made it to the 2024 promotion/relegation final and will again be expected to mount a serious challenge. UCD and Wexford also made the play-offs and will have ambitions to again finish in the top five.

Wexford have a new manager in former Ireland international Stephen Elliott and, if they can find more consistency, they should be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. Cobh Ramblers also have a new manager in Michael McDermott who has been very active in the transfer market. Ramblers could be the surprise packet in the division and have turned to near neighbours for the majority of their new acquisitions, with former Cork captain Cian Coleman and the highly rated Barry Coffey among those switching over to St Colman’s Park.

Treaty United and Finn Harps will be competitive and trips to the Markets Field and Finn Park respectively are often tough tasks. Midland rivals Longford Town will be hoping for a better season after their disappointing campaign in 2024, while Kerry FC have been active in the transfer market as they look to avoid again finishing the season in bottom place.