Three second-half goals helped Athlone Town to a 3-0 victory over Peamount United to win the President's Cup in Athlone Town Stadium.
Goals from Chloe Singleton (2) and Casey Howe ensured that the home team successfully retained the trophy that they won last year following an impressive display.
This was a battle between the 2023 Sports Direct Women's FAI Cup winners and the 2023 SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division champions. And there wasn't much between them — at least in the first period.
However, momentum swung in favour of Ciaran Kilduff's team after the interval with Singleton pulling the strings to edge her team in front. She had only come on as a 65th-minute substitute but her quality proved to be the difference.
With new signing Howe proving to be a threat all afternoon, Peamount were forced back more than they would be used to. But it was Singleton who eventually broke through when she opened the scoring on 77 minutes — not long after Madison Gibson had failed to convert a penalty.
Singleton got her second goal six minutes later before Howe made it 3-0 on 86 minutes. The late flurry of goals meant Peamount had no time to mount a comeback and that ensured the trophy would be staying in the Midlands.
This curtain-raiser for the 2024 season provided plenty of quality from both teams and it sets things up nicely for the League campaign to kick off next weekend.
Athlone Town: Katie Keane; Kellie Bennan, Kayleigh Shine, Jesi Rossman, Shauna Brennan; Katie Slevin (Jenaya Robertson 65), Kerryanne Browne (Chloe Singleton 65), Laurie Ryan, Roisin Molloy (Gillian Keenan 83); Madison Gibson, Casey Howe.
Peamount United: Niamh Reid Burke; Lauryn Callaghan, Jetta Berrill, Ciara Maher, Dearbhaile Beirne; Freya Healy (Louise Masterson 80), Karen Duggan, Sadhbh Doyle (Erica Burke 56), Jess Fitzgerald; Erin McLaughlin, Ellen Dolan.
Referee: Ray Matthews.
Report sourced from League of Ireland.
