Athlone Town -v- Limerick FC

• Simon O'Gorman
• Sat, Oct 30 2010


Limerick FC travel to Lisseywoolen on Saturday night with little at stake for either side in this, the final round of Airtricity First Division games. (Kick-off, 7.45pm)

Limerick?s slim hopes of securing a promotion play-off ended last weekend when Shelbourne came away from Jackman Park with a 1-0 win thanks to a David McGill penalty. Pat Scully's men will have been disappointed to fall away so close to the end of what has been an excellent season for the Shannon-siders, and it remains to be seen whether they can now motivate themselves for this dead rubber.

“We cannot now qualify for the playoffs”, said Scully. “I am disappointed for everyone staff, players and fans alike. We played all the football last week against Shelbourne but lost, the young players that came in did very well and we want to finish the season on a high with a win in Athlone”

Athlone, lying tenth in the table and 23 points behind Saturday's opponents, have arguably got a lot more to play for with arch rivals Longford just one point ahead of them. Nothing would please the Athlone support more than to sneak ahead of their neighbours on the last day and, it should also be borne in mind that this game represents manager, Brendan Place's last game in charge at the Midlands club.

Whichever way the motivational wind blows, Place will be hoping that his side can build on recent performances which included an impressive display at Waterford last weekend. Athlone were unfortunate to come away from the RSC with what was widely considered to be an undeserved 3-2 defeat. Prior to that Athlone put Wexford to the sword at Ferrycarrig Park, further indication that Place's men are immune to the lethargy that end of season games can sometimes induce.

There can be little doubt that, over the season, Limerick have shown themselves to have more footballing quality than Athlone but expect the home side's pride and momentum to provide a more level playing field than the league table might suggest.



Athlone Town
Injured: Gordon Watson.
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: None.

Limerick FC
Injured: Not available.
Doubtful: Not available.
Suspended: None.

Referee: J McLoughlin.

Extratime prediction: A 2-2 draw.