Athlone Town And Shelbourne Face-Off In Another FAI Cup Match
Athlone Town and Shelbourne to meet for a face-off in the final match of the FAI Cup for the third time is a possibility. After Tuesday’s draw, there remains a hope that the two teams will meet in The Sports Direct Women’s FAI Cup final.
Due to the semi-final draw, the two prominent teams were to avoid each other in the Premier Division. Athlone Town and Shelbourne met each other in 2022 and 2023 before, securing one victory each.
(Also read: Jake Mulraney Highlights The League of Ireland Needs Help After St Pat’s Draw)
Athlone Town won the previous year’s Cup with penalties.
The draw match today had Sligo Rovers meeting Athlone Town repeatedly, similar to last year’s semi-final.
Former Shels player, midfielder, Jamie Finn, recovered from a knee injury, and helped in drawing the match with FAI President Paul Cooke.
Athlone Town to compete at the Showgrounds
The Athlone team who has to compete against Shels for the title of the cup would be against Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds.
Birmingham City playmaker Finn said, “You’d have to say Shels and Athlone are favourites after the draw but Sligo and Cork City are capable of producing results on the day”.
The other semi-final match would be hosted by Cork City at Tolka Park. The team City are enjoying their improved league campaign and will be reaching Dublin for a tough competition.
The winning goals in the last 120th minute helped both teams earn their rightful places in the quarter-finals. Their matches would be against Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers respectively.
FAI Cup, Football Association of Ireland, is the country’s national football competition that is held every year. 40 teams become part of this competition each year of which 20 teams are from the League of Ireland while the remaining 20 are from the regional leagues of the Republic of Ireland.
