Women’s Champions League, first qualifying round: Athlone Town v Cardiff City, Athlone Town Stadium, Wednesday, 7.30pm – Live on LOITV
Athlone Town’s European debut against Cardiff City in the Champions League first-round qualifier at Lissywollen comes with an instant reward as the winners have a home tie this Saturday against Croatian side ZNK Agram.
“There is a buzz around the town, so we’re excited to get going,” said Madie Gibson, Athlone’s American winger. “We know that Cardiff are a good side and we have to respect them. It’s not going to be easy, we know that.
“We’re confident. We have one of the top goalscorers in the league with Kelly Brady, we have Róisín Molloy, who always gets a lot of assists every year, but we also have a lot of young players who can come in and score as well.
“So we’re kind of rich all over the pitch and anyone can score on their day.”
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However, Gibson, Brady and Izzy Groves are injury doubts for manager Colin Fortune.
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“We’re assessing them, they’re massive players,” Fortune said. “The Treaty game thrown in (last Wednesday) didn’t help us. I don’t think we’re developed for that yet, them type of games coming around as quick as they did, I don’t think we’re ready for that and it’s done a bit of damage to us in relation to our preparation.
“We’ll give Cardiff a right go no matter who’s on the pitch.”
Athlone are the fifth Irish club to play in Europe, following in the footsteps of Peamount United, Raheny United, Wexford and Shelbourne.
