WNL Season Preview: Athlone Town

Manager: Tommy Hewitt

Stadium: Athlone Town Stadium

Players in: Niamh Coombes (Volsungur FC), Amanda Ryan, Fiona Owens (Peamount United), Jessica Turner, Leah Brady (Galway), Zara Lawless (Kilkenny United), Kayleigh Shine, Chloe McNamee, Roisin Jacob, Angelina de Rosa, Emma Donohoe (Limerick), Paula Doran, Kayla Brady (Galway), Orlaith White, Aoife Haran, Ciara McManus (Galway), Jessica Hennessy, Katelyn Keogh, Kellie Brennan (Galway), Robyn Heatherington, Amy Hyndman, Sinead Farrell, Ava Gowran, Allie Heatherington.

Players out: N/A

Extratime.com Key Player: Paula Doran

In a team stacked with talented young players, an experienced head is also required. Paula Doran brings that to the club in spades.

Doran was involved with Peamount United for the inaugural WNL season, she went on to play for Shamrock Rovers before moving to America on a four year scholarship with King University in Tennessee.

After college she played semi-professionally with Knoxville Lady Force before returning to Ireland in 2018 and signing for DLR Waves.

Extratime.com One to Watch: Kayla Brady

In truth there could be any number of Athlone player’s picked as ‘One to Watch’ this season with a lot of exciting young talent in the squad.



Brady in particular had a stellar season in 2019 with Galway WFC’s Under 17 side. The midfielder helped the side to the League and Cup double as well as the Lisbon Cup last season.

The midfielder is a Republic of Ireland Under 19 international and she won last year’s SO Hotel’s Under 17 Player of the Year award.

This will be Brady’s first taste of senior football and the prospect of seeing how she adapts to the higher level is an exciting one.

How they did last season:

League: N/A

WFAI Cup: N/A



WNL Cup: N/A

What to expect this season: It’s tough to predict exactly how this new team will fare in this season’s WNL. With a reliance on a lot of youth it could be expected to be a tough start for Tommy Hewitt’s side.

While a lot of their players might be young, they’ve somehow managed to attract some eye catching names from around the league.

Three of the obvious ones are Ciara McManus, Kellie Brennan and Kayla Brady who all played together on that fantastic Galway WFC Under 17 team last season.

Fiona Owens is also in the squad, she was on the losing side of the Under 17 Cup Final with Peamount United last year.

Not only was she a stellar performer at Under 17 level, she was also pushing for game time with the senior squad.

They probably won’t crack the top half of the table this year but the Midlands club will surprise a few people.

At the very least, we should expect some entertaining football from some of the most exciting young prospects in the WNL.

First game: Wexford Youths (Home)