Athlone Town A.F.C.

Lore & Background

Athlone Town played their first official game on 9 February 1887 against Castlerea F.C. of Roscommon. The friendly match finished in a goalless draw. Initially, the club played their matches at the Sports Ground in Athlone. In 1924, Athlone Town won the FAI Cup, their first domestic success, beating Fordsons. Dinny Hannon scored the only goal of the game, as Athlone went through the whole competition without conceding a goal. Hannon was one of five Athlone Town players chosen to represent the Irish Free State at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. The other players were Tommy Muldoon, Frank Ghent, John Joe Dykes and Paddy O'Reilly. In 1926, Athlone Town moved into a new home at the Ranelagh Grounds. The Westmeath club remained in the League of Ireland until the end of the 1927–28 season when, following a poor season in which the team finished bottom of the table, they resigned from the league. The club were also knocked out of FAI Cup in the first round after a 9–3 defeat to then non-league Drumcondra. Athlone, who were also in a perilous position financially, opted to return to provincial football and Drumcondra took their place in the league. Athlone Town moved into their new home at St. Mel's Park in 1929 after two seasons spent at Ranelagh Gardens. Prior to then the club played at the town’s Sportsground. In the 1950s, Athlone Town had a team competing in the Athletic Union League. They also entered a side into the FAI Junior Cup. Athlone Town were elected to the Intermediate-level League of Ireland B Division as founder members in 1964–65. The club reached the FAI Intermediate Cup final in 1967–68, losing 1–0 to Home Farm after a replay, but won the B Division's Castrol Trophy. The Castrol Trophy was retained for the 1968–69 season and Athlone also won the league title's Blackthorn Trophy, finishing six points ahead of their closest rivals in the B Division; St. Patrick's Athletic. Athlone also reached the semi-final of the Leinster Senior Cup losing 0–1 to Bohemians. Athlone Town were elected back into the League of Ireland for the 1969–70 season. Although they finished tenth in the league, Athlone won the Leinster Senior Cup, beating Shelbourne 4–0 in the final. The club finished second in the league in the 1974–75 season, earning a place in the UEFA Cup, the first time they had ever qualified for European competition.

Reader's Guide

The club is fan-owned. Athlone Town have won 2 League of Ireland titles (1980–81, 1982–83), 1 FAI Cup (1923–24), 3 League of Ireland Cups (1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83), 3 Leinster Senior Cups (1969–70, 1987–88, 1991–92), 1 LFA President's Cup (1983–84), 1 Tyler Cup (1979–80), 2 League of Ireland First Division titles (1987–88, 2013), 2 League of Ireland B Division titles (1968–69, 1983–84), 2 FAI Junior Cups (1934–35, 1937–38), and 1 FAI Youth Cup (1983–84). The club's home matches are played at Lissywollen, a stadium opened in 2007 with a single stand seating close to 2,000. Notable former managers include Turlough O'Connor (1979–85), Roddy Collins (2012–13, 2017–18), and Mick Cooke (2014). The club's most capped player is Dennis Clarke with 361 appearances.

Did You Know?

• Athlone Town is the oldest club in the League of Ireland, founded in 1887.
• The club's first ever match on 9 February 1887 ended in a goalless draw against Castlerea F.C.
• In 1924, five Athlone Town players represented the Irish Free State at the Paris Olympics: Dinny Hannon, Tommy Muldoon, Frank Ghent, John Joe Dykes, and Paddy O'Reilly.
• Athlone Town set a record attendance of 9,000 at St. Mel's Park for a 0–0 draw against AC Milan in the 1975–76 UEFA Cup.
• In November 2020, Athlone Town lost 11–0 to Dundalk in the FAI Cup semi-final, the biggest win in the competition's history.

Foundations and Pioneering Status

Athlone Town Association Football Club carries the weight of being the oldest side in the League of Ireland, with its origins stretching back to 1887. The club's inaugural official fixture came on 9 February 1887, a friendly against Roscommon's Castlerea F.C. that concluded in a scoreless draw. In those formative years, the team called the town's Sports Ground home before eventually shifting to other local venues. A defining milestone arrived in the 1922–23 season, when Athlone became the first club hailing from outside Dublin to join the newly rebranded Free State League. Their maiden national campaign saw them settle in sixth place and push all the way to the League of Ireland Shield final, proving that a Westmeath outfit could compete credibly at the highest domestic level. That pioneering status anchored Athlone in the broader narrative of Irish football well before the silverware of later decades arrived.

The 1924 FAI Cup and Olympic Call-Up

The 1924 FAI Cup final stands as one of the most extraordinary feats in the club's long history. Athlone Town overcame Fordsons to lift their first domestic trophy, and they accomplished it in a manner that still astonishes: the entire tournament was navigated without a single goal conceded. Dinny Hannon found the net in the final, sealing a flawless defensive record across the whole competition. The significance of that achievement rippled far beyond the domestic pitch. Hannon, together with four fellow Athlone players — Tommy Muldoon, Frank Ghent, John Joe Dykes, and Paddy O'Reilly — were selected to represent the Irish Free State at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. For a small Westmeath club, having five of its own players chosen for the national squad at the Olympics spoke volumes about the squad's depth and quality. It was a brief but brilliant golden era, unfortunately cut short when the club resigned from the national league at the end of the 1927–28 season after finishing bottom of the table amid financial pressure.

European Ambition and a Run of Silverware

The 1970s and 1980s marked Athlone Town's most sustained stretch of success. After claiming the Leinster Senior Cup in 1969–70 with a emphatic 4–0 final win over Shelbourne, the club earned a UEFA Cup berth in 1974–75 — their first taste of European competition. They dispatched Norwegian side Vålerenga before meeting Italian heavyweights AC Milan, drawing 0–0 at St. Mel's Park before a record 9,000 fans and then falling 3–0 at the San Siro. The 1980–81 league title secured a European Cup place, where a 2–2 draw with Denmark's KB was not enough to avoid elimination on away goals. A back-to-back league title in 1982–83 brought another European campaign against Standard Liège, ending in a 3–2 home loss and a crushing 8–2 defeat in Belgium. Domestically, the club added League Cup triumphs in 1979–80, 1981–82, and 1982–83, defeating St. Patrick's Athletic, Shamrock Rovers, and Dundalk respectively.

Survival, a New Home, and the Women's Revolution

Athlone Town's narrative is defined by an unyielding capacity to survive. The club endured repeated relegation and promotion cycles through the 1990s and 2000s, including narrowly missing promotion in 2001 by just one point to Monaghan United. In 2007 the club relocated to a purpose-built stadium at Lissywollen, opened on 9 March with a match against Kilkenny City, featuring a single stand with capacity for close to 2,000 seated supporters. Financial crisis struck in 2008, prompting an emergency general meeting at which supporters rallied behind a patron scheme that attracted more than 350 contributing fans. The 2013 First Division title, sealed with a 1–0 victory over Waterford United, offered a moment of hard-won redemption. A fresh chapter opened in 2020 with the creation of the women's team, which has enjoyed remarkable success in just a few short years, collecting multiple league and cup titles. This blend of survival instinct and forward-looking ambition defines the modern Athlone Town identity.