Reporting from Tallaght Stadium
Athlone Town A.F.C won the 2023 FAI Women’s Cup final in dramatic fashion beating Shelbourne FC in penalties 4-3 in front of 3,526 people at Tallaght Stadium.
The match finished all square at one-all. Jemma Quinn thought she'd won the game with an extra time goal for Shels only for Gillian Keenan to send the match to penalties with a well-taken volley.
An eventful penalty shootout was decided when Shelbourne's Alex Kavanagh's struck the final penalty against the crossbar, sparking wild celebrations from the triumphant Athlone Town contingent.
Athlone Town are the 2023 Women's FAI Cup winners after a 4-3 penalty shootout victory over Shelbourne in a dramatic encounter at Tallaght Stadium
📺 @AthloneTownAFC v @shelsfc on @RTE2 & @RTEplayer
📻 @RTERadio1
💻 live blog on https://t.co/u732YPAjWD pic.twitter.com/MEJztFYorH— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 19, 2023
For Athlone Town, it's an incredible achievement and a first trophy for the senior team.
It's a disappointing end note for an otherwise impressive season from Shelbourne. They finished second in the WNL and performed exceptionally well in both the FAI Women’s Cup and regionally in the UEFA Women’s Champions league where they beat Cardiff City 3-0.
The defeat meant Noel King's reign at Shelbourne manager ended in disappointment.
Athlone who were characterised as the underdog of sorts heading into the match proved that they could take the lead.
2023 FAI Cup final: a thriller
Over the course of the match, possession of the ball was largely dominated by Shelbourne while Athlone had more chances on goal.
The first goal of the match was scored by Dana Scheriff at 32 minutes in. By halftime, the score was 1-0 to Athlone. However, things were looking up for Shelbourne in the second half when Quinn, who had come on as a substitute for Christie Gray, brought the score to 1-1.
Indeed, Athlone has one of the most prominent rising stars in Irish football but who comes from a little bit farther away from home. American-born Dana Scheriff has won the Golden Boot and the FAI Women’s Cup a week apart from one another.
#PrideOfTheMidlands https://t.co/naSLcg68AQ
— Athlone Town AFC (@AthloneTownAFC) November 12, 2023
Scheriff spoke to Balls.ie about these two exceptional achievements.
“The FAI Cup Final - you only dream about it, we dreamt about it last year and we fell short so it’s just been just a great season overall.”
As for finishing top scorer in the league, Scheriff said:
"It’s just been spectacular. Aine O’Gorman, who I was running up against, is an incredible player, she’s just been such a star and the way to win it, I don’t know it’s just been full circle for me."
In addition to being American, Scheriff is also a British citizen as her mother is English. Despite this, she has previously expressed her intent to get an Irish passport of which she is eligible for by way of her Dublin-born grandmother. This begs the question - could we see her as in a green jersey anytime soon?
On this possibility she said, “Oh I would love to - it takes a long time, it’s a long process to get all the documents together and the citizenship. It took me over a year to get the British one. But I mean I would love to, I’m not going to say no but we’ll see.”
