Athlone Town U15 Head Coach Dermot Lennon believes his team 'have done it the hard way' as they prepare to face St. Patrick's Athletic in the first SSE Airtricity National U15 League final tomorrow. The Athlone Town Stadium is set to host the final
Athlone Town U15 Head Coach Dermot Lennon believes his team 'have done it the hard way' as they prepare to face St. Patrick's Athletic in the first SSE Airtricity National U15 League final tomorrow.
The Athlone Town Stadium is set to host the final after the U15 side sealed their spot in the final with an impressive 2-1 victory at Finn Harps last weekend. Athlone will host St. Patrick's Athletic in the final after their 2-1 semi-final victory at home to Bray Wanderers.
Lennon's side have enjoyed an impressive campaign in the inaugural season of the National U15 League having come through a difficult Group Two to finish second and qualify for the finals stage.
The Midlanders have only lost one game this season, recording wins over St. Kevin's Boys, UCD, and Galway United in the group stage. A quarter-final victory in Waterford followed before travelling to Harps to record a 2-1 victory and Lennon is delighted with the progress his team has made.
Lennon said: "It's a fantastic achievement for us and the club. We started the season like everybody else really, not knowing where we would end up as it's a new competition and we didn't know what level we were at.
"We knew we had talent in the squad and that has definitely shone through this season. We were in a tough group with the likes of Galway United and Shamrock Rovers, so to finish second was great. To come through the quarter and semi-final as well, you've got to be delighted with that.
"We had a tough start to the season. We had to face Bray who were always going to be strong and in the next game, we had to come from 2-0 down to beat St. Kevin's. We never looked back after that game, that showed the players just how good they can be and gave them the belief that we can match these players."
The Athlone squad is made up of locally-based players from all over the Midlands area after the club held open trials before the start of the season.
"A lot of the players were already here in the underage set-up but we had trials as well for anybody who wanted to come. We had players from Athlone, Roscommon, the likes of Mullingar and also Tullamore so we really cover quite a lot of the Midlands area," Lennon said.
"There were a lot of players who didn't make it but we're still in contact with them as there might be a few players moving up next season. Obviously, we're delighted with the way its worked out as we were able to put together a good side through the trials."
St. Patrick's Athletic have enjoyed an excellent campaign, winning all but one of their group stage games, to make the finals stage where they progressed past Sligo Rovers and Bray Wanderers.
Despite the impressive record of his opponents tomorrow, Lennon is confident given the challenges they've already come up against this season and hopes a big crowd will come out to support the players.
He added: "It couldn't have been more difficult really. We had to make the three-hour journey down to face a strong Waterford side and then had to go up to Finn Harps in the semi-final.
"I think if you look at the opposition we had in the group and who we got in the finals stage, no-one could say we don't deserve to host the final. We're expecting a really good crowd. We had a big crowd for the Shamrock Rovers game and I'm sure Pats will bring a few from Dublin.
"It's gathered quite a lot of attention in the area and it's great for the club to be in a national final at any level."
SSE Airtricity National U15 League Final
25/11 - Athlone Town v St. Patrick's Athletic, Athlone Town Stadium, 7pm
