Re-start Club Preview: Athlone Town

Club: Athlone Town

Manager: Adrian Carbury

Highest league goal scorer: Darren Meenan (Two goals)

Current position: Tenth

How we thought they would do for the 2020 season

After finishing eighth in last season’s First Division the writers at extratime.com felt the Midlands club could repeat that feat of avoiding the wooden spoon once again after improving from their last placed finishes in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The Town had been touted to finish ninth this season after adding a couple of young talents from Galway United in Adam Rooney, Ronan Asgari and Joshua Keane-Quinlivan.

The signing of Shamrock Rovers’ Joel Coustrain also turned heads coming into the 2020 season.

How they did in the opening part of the season

Carbury’s side have just two league games played so far as their game against Galway United was postponed due to adverse weather conditions.

The Midlands club lost 3-1 to Cabinteely in their opening game of the season before losing 3-2 to Cobh Ramblers down in Cork before the season was postponed, leaving them bottom of the table with no points.

Moment of the season so far

Athlone do not have very much to cheer about so far this season but one stand out moment is the goal scored by Ronan Manning against Cabinteely in their first game of the season.

The young midfielder, the brother of QPR’s Ryan, showed a lot of promise while at Galway United and seemed tipped to follow in the footsteps of his older brother.

He failed to make progress during the 2018 season with The Tribesmen however, and although he signed with Athlone for 2019 he never made a first team appearance.

The Town might struggle this season but this goal on his return to the League of Ireland will hopefully be a sign of things to come from a young player getting his career back on track.

Stand out player so far this season

Their captain Darren Meenan is still the major standout for the Midlands club.

With a wealth of experience under his belt and two goals to his name Meenan is still an incredibly important player for Carbury’s side.

Squad changes during lockdown

None

What they need to do in the restart

Athlone have made some decent signings for the 2020 season but the early worry has to be their defending.

They might be scoring goals but with six conceded in two games they look like a team set to struggle desperately if they can’t prevent teams from scoring so much.

Where we see them finishing

Tenth

Who will they face in the FAI Cup?

Bye

First post-lockdown league fixture

Wexford (home)