Laois soccer star to the fore as Athlone Town capture Women’s FAI Cup

Gillian Keenan turned out to be Athlone Town’s saviour as her late goal brought the game to penalties against Shelbourne.

Keenan came off the bench in the 98th minute as she took the ball down in the middle of the box before blasting the ball past Amanda McQuillan to send the large travelling support from Athlone into raptures.

See Keenan’s fantastic goal below.

GOAL - What drama in Tallaght as substitute Gillian Keenan scores a late leveller for Athlone Town
@AthloneTownAFC v @shelsfc on @RTE2 & @RTEplayer
@RTERadio1
live blog on https://t.co/u732YPAjWD pic.twitter.com/eK6ZNnuMYQ

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 19, 2023

The game itself was a fabulous spectacle as Athlone took the lead courtesy of Dana Scheriff with 34 minutes on the clock. Jemma Quinn equalised after 74 minutes as a goalkeeping mistake allowed her to tap the ball into an empty net.

Quinn was the scorer of the second Shelbourne goal as her strike from the edge of box in extra-time gave Katie Keane no change in the Athlone goal. Keenan stood up for her side when they needed her most as she scored in the 126th minute to force penalties.

The penalty shootout saw Athlone miss their first penalty as Madison Gibson’s effort rattled off the post. The Shelbourne goalie was the next to miss as she took the second penalty but skied it over the bar. It came down to Alex Kavanagh to send the shootout but her effort struck the crossbar and saw Athlone Town crowned champions.