Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Athlone Town’s Roisin Molloy celebrates scoring.Tom O’Hanlon/INPHO FreeConvincing Athlone earn comfortable win in historic Champions League tie The Town were too good for Welsh side, Cardiff City. 9.45pm, 30 Jul 2025 Share options Uefa Champions League first qualifying round Athlone Town 4 Cardiff City 0 Kevin Egan reports from Athlone Town Stadium THE PARTY atmosphere in Athlone to welcome a historic first-ever Champions League tie for the Town will continue until Saturday at least, after the Midlanders easily slayed the visiting Welsh dragons tonight. Cardiff were brushed aside by Shelbourne in this competition two years ago when Noelle Murray scored twice in a 3-0 win. But the reigning Premier Division champions and league leaders were even more dominant here, controlling the game on the pitch long before Róisín Molloy’s brace before half-time effectively secured their passage through to a second qualifying round tie against ŽNK Agram (Croatia) on Saturday. A home draw for both games served as the ideal boost for a club making their debut at this level, but manager Colin Fortune could scarcely have dreamt of having such a comfortable evening, with little doubt about the result once Izzy Groves floated the ball over Ceryn Chamberlain for the first goal after 14 minutes. Advertisement It wasn’t the one-goal lead that was reassuring, so much as Athlone’s vice-like grip on the midfield battle. Groves and Hannah Waesch dominated the trenches, with Cardiff repeatedly running into trouble as they tried to play the ball out of their back line. On such a solid foundation, wingers Madison Gibson and Róisín Molloy were given plenty of opportunities to get to the end line and test out Chamberlain and the Cardiff centre backs. The sight of Chamberlain spilling the first three crosses was like drops of blood in the water for the packed house of approximately 2,000 fans. Deft footwork and a perfectly-placed low cross from Molloy should have brought about the breakthrough, but somehow neither Kelly Brady nor Gibson was able to get a touch, and Cardiff had a very short-lived reprieve. Molloy danced past Ffion Price yet again before squaring the ball to Groves, with the Jamaican international showing perfect composure to float the ball into the far corner. Despite receiving this jolt, Cardiff still couldn’t find their way out of their half, much less find a way to test Megan Plaschko, and the only concern for Athlone was their inability to make their dominance count. Brady narrowly missed the target with a header, Shannon Evans came up with a last-ditch tackle to take the ball out of the same player’s feet just eight yards out, and on a disappointing night for the striker, she was blocked and then pulled another effort wide approach the 40-minute mark. Another night, those misses might have proven costly, but on this occasion, it just fell to Molloy to step into the breach. The former Sligo intercounty footballer’s first goal was all about persistence, eventually forcing the ball over the line when Cardiff failed to clear Madison Gibson’s low cross, while the second was a decisive far-post header to meet another delivery from the American winger. Any lingering doubts in the most pessimistic of minds were blown out of the water four minutes into the second half when Natalie McNally’s header came off the post and Hannah Waesch duly picked her spot inside the left-hand post from the rebound, though from then on, the sense of self-preservation in advance of yet another big day on Saturday (kick-off at 4pm) became increasingly apparent. Athlone Town: Megan Plaschko; Kellie Brennan, Kayleigh Shine, Natalie McNally, Shauna Brennan (Aoife Murphy O’Connor 79); Hannah Waesch; Róisín Molloy (Isabel Ryan 79), Sarah Rice, Israela Groves (captain) (Kate Slevin 69), Madison Gibson (Emma Mooney 74); Kelly Brady (Hazel Donegan 69). Cardiff City: Ceryn Chamberlain; Lisa Owen (captain) (Amy Long 57), Nieve Jenkins, Shannon Evans, Ffion Price (Maddison Perrott 69); Kerry Walklett, Helen Evans (Hannah Daly 79); Mikayla Cook, Lily Billingham, Fiona Barry (Mackenzie Olden 57); Laura Curnock (Megan Bowen 79). Referee: Karoline Marie Jensen (Norway). 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