Athlone Town FC

 Back in Ireland for the second time in a week, this time I was in the Irish Midlands in the pretty town of Athlone. Built either side of a river, the town boasts two big shopping centres along with a high street lined with cafes and pubs, a castle and two big hotels, Sheraton and Radisson. Athlone is an hour and 20 away from Dublin on the train to Galway.

The ground is 2km walk from the town centre so a fair enough way, you first come to the hurling stadium, then some tennis courts and an indoor sports centre and the football ground is just behind there. It's unusual in that it only consists of one stand, albeit a big one holding 5000. The opposition today were Cork City, the perennial yo yo club who are sure to get promoted back to the Premier this season. Managed by ex Celtic midfielder Barry Robson they are far better than anything else in the first division. Sadly for me star winger Cathal O Sullivan has left Cork to sign for Preston, the lad was a joy to watch when I did Cork last season, he will be Irelands next Damien Duff, you heard it here first!

There was a decent crowd in for the game, 879 to be precise. Food options are limited to whatever vans turn up around the back of the stand, uninspired I opted for battered sausage and chips from Danny's takeaway in the High Street on the walk back to the hotel.

I had a good vantage point in the stand, just above the away dugout and tunnel, Robson does a lot of arm waving and is quite animated during the game, I feel he has a lot to improve on as a manager though after some uninspiring spells at clubs in Scotland, goes to show the best players don't always make the best managers. First half was a tight affair, chances for both sides but Athlone were really up for this one and didn't let Cork settle, they went in at the break level 0-0 plus Cork had lost star striker Ruari Keating to injury.

Second half started and Cork had clearly had a talking to, they were zipping the ball about much quicker and Athlone looked like they had run out of steam. Conor Drinan was central to everything Cork did, he scored their opener with an excellent first time shot into the top corner from the edge of the area, then he went on a long run down the left wing and crossed, seconds before being flattened, nevertheless advantage was played and Mpongo headed in with Drinan laid flat out. Drinan picked himself up to then find himself clean through the middle, only to be brought down again for a penalty which Mpongo dispatched.

A word for the takeaway, it was an interesting experience, two Irish lads wondered in just before me, looked like they'd been drinking since after work. I ordered and sat down, thinking they had ordered first, but no, they got up to order about 5 minutes later so had just been sat mumbling drunken garbage. Then another walked in, can of Heineken in hand, all the way to the counter, before turning like Andres Iniesta and walking straight back out again.