Athlone Town (A)

[culloty82]

Well, if we so much as draw tonight, it'll at least guarantee that we won't finish bottom, which will be a first, but realistically a win is a must if we're to finish ahead of Longford this season. It remains to be seen whether Matt Connor will recover in time to resume between the sticks, so Darragh Foley could well get a second outing, while rotation could also be a factor with Treaty in mind on Friday. The home side battled hard against our next opponents, so could well be a hairy affair tonight, but you'd hope we have enough firepower to pull through with the win.

[legendz]

A draw will do. Always greedy wanting to win. Hoping for the best!

[listowelceltic]

Alot of changes. Brookwell and Matt Connor injured. Wise I suppose with 3 games in 7 days.

[legendz]

9th place secure anyway. Another small piece of history!
Any slim hope of the playoffs is gone. Needed 3 points tonight and a win over Treaty to cut the gap to 5. Was a long shot anyway.
Fair play to Foley for saving the retaken penalty as well.

[Zico]

If you offered 9th place and a cup semi at the start of the season, would probably have taken it.

Good to see Doolan get on (could have scored) and well done to Foley, great peno save and looked solid throughout. 3 more academy graduates with debuts this season (including Palmer), that’s a good return and need to continue that production next season and onwards.

[culloty82]

Absolutely - you'd hope that as many of this season's transfers will commit to another season if possible (invariably, there'll be some few departures), but the fact that Healy hasn't hesitated to blood youngsters since taking over suggests he fully understands the importance of the local dimension to the long-term project.

[legendz]

Absolutely indeed. The ethos of the club is to provide a platform for local talent. Naturally that has to work with bringing in the right quality additions as well. Ideally can progress retaining that ethos of blooding youngsters.