ADMIRED for his attitude and talent by Athlone Town manager Stephen Kelly, Tullamore native, Iarfhlaith Davoren, has made his mark on Ireland's oldest league club.

At just 18 years old, Davoren, has made ten first team appearances for Athlone Town this season. He might not have scored for the first team but he is highly regarded as a first class prospect at the First Division outfit. The manager has just been handed the reigns for next season and he sees Davoren as a major part of his plans for 2005.

STEPHEN KELLY has promised to assemble a squad good enough to mount a serious challenge for promotion from the eircom First Division next season.

In his first interview since being officially appointed Athlone manager for next season - an appointment the Westmeath Independent exclusively revealed two weeks before it was officially confirmed late last week - Kelly praised the club for not allowing his situation to run until the end of the current season, which has only three weeks to go.

THE TOWN of Athlone, and Athlone Town Football Club, lost one of its finest servants last weekend with the sad passing of Johnny Keena.

For well in excess of 50 years he devoted himself with infectious and boundless enthusiasm to the game and to the club he loved. He played the game with distinction for Athlone Town Football Club for 20 years, captaining the side, and then served the club in an administrative capacity for more than 30 years and rose to serve on the Executive of the Football Association of Ireland in a lifetime of extraordinary service.

“Stadium Project,” Athlone’s horse,
Will hopefully complete the course
And earn the Town a princely sum
Towards their brand new stadium.
The famous Tony Mullins’ stable
Says that it’s supremely able.

IT is a case of second time lucky for Stephen Kelly after he was handed the reigns of Athlone Town Football Club on Thursday evening. The Dubliner was promptly appointed Aaron Callaghan's successor four months after initially applying for the job. Combining playing and managing will be no easy feat for the 33 year-old but with an injury set to side-line him for the next three weeks, Kelly will use this period to adjust.

The new player/manager is pleased that Padraig Dully will be staying on as his assistant stating that it is very important to have someone he can trust in the dugout if he wants to continue playing. Kelly has the added advantage of familiarity of his squad and he knows only too well what the players are capable of.

He can stop goals and he can score goals, well that is what Athlone's latest shot-stopper told the Athlone Topic this week.

Graeme Loughman made his full-debut for the Town against Kilkenny City in St. Mel's Park and did his reputation no harm with an accomplished display, but just last season he had a spell up front for Mike Kerley's Limerick even scoring for the Blues. The amiable Tipperary man has only been competing as a goal-keeper for the past four years although his performance to date would suggest differently.

I sprinted like mad through the old ticket gate
With my bag swinging over my back.
But up on the platform I cursed cruel fate,
As the train chuffed away down the track.
And I stood there despondently all on my own.
Now what could I do for two hours in Athlone?

There has been much talk about Aaron Callaghan's close season signings. We have all heard about return of Tom Silke and the promise of youngsters such as Niall Donnellly and Adrian Murphy but one player in particular rarely seems to get notable attention.

Micky Collins is Athlone's longest serving player in the current squad and the loyalty he has shown to the Club is seldom found in today's world of football. Collins is still only 27 years-old but it seems he has been gracing the St. Mel's Park turf for a lot longer than he has.

A product of St. Francis, he made the move to Millwall at the tender age of 15. Like many others he returned home after a season at The New Den and Millwall's loss certainly was Athlone Town's gain. "I was with St. Francis as a schoolboy and worked my way up to the Under-16s then I went over to England to Millwall.

Athlone has had it's share of sporting heroes down the years but none more so than the man responsible for bringing unprecedented success to the town's soccer club - the great Turlough O'Connor.

The Westmeath Independent's soccer correspondent KEVIN O'NEILL spoke to the Club's most successful manager ever, and we bring this to you now in a multi piece special.

Born in 1946 at Sarsfield Square in the town, the son of Turlough Snr., and Margaret O'Connor, Turlough O'Connor enjoyed a hugely successful playing and managerial career in the League of Ireland, that saw him lift silverware on a regular basis and, in the process, become a folk hero in his home town.

Turlough O'Connor, one of Athlone's most venerated sporting sons, was a worthy recipient of the first Westmeath Independent/Grand Hotel Sports Stars Hall of Fame Award.

"I'm very, very honoured to be here tonight. It's a great occasion to be on this stage with so many young people just starting out on their sporting careers," said Turlough after he was presented with the award. And Turlough, now based in Dublin, had a few old buddies present on the night to welcome him back to the Midlands.

It might be difficult to pick out just one single star from Athlone Town's successful 80s era but ask anyone and the name Stefan Feniuk would never be too far from their lips.

The Manchester native spent almost 10 years with Athlone and in that time became one of the most respected players ever to grace the St. Mel's Park turf. Signed from Stoke City by Tony Talyor in 1977, Feniuk established himself as an intricate part of club for a decade. On a recent visit back to Athlone, Feniuk spoke to the Athlone Topic and reminisced about the town that he likes to call his 'second home.'

I DON'T see myself coaching for much longer, maybe two more years. Mind you, I am absolutely loving it.

I'm involved in football all my life. I was on the Athlone junior team at the age of 14, and I played in the semi-final of the FAI Junior Cup at the age of 16 against Ierne. I managed the Athlone youths for seven years, and we got to the cup final three years in a row, in '83, '84 and '85.

Simple, yet clear, is how another chapter closes for Athlone Town Football Club as Jimmy Greene becomes a past memory and a past manager like Liam Buckley, Dermot Keely, Tony Mannion, Turlough O'Connor, Amby Fogarty and Billy Young have all done before him.

His new role as Youth Development Officer will take him back to what he knows best and what he likes best as he finally sees the weights lifted from its shoulders. In an exclusive interview with the Athlone Topic, Jimmy Greene justifies his reasons for stepping down and gives us an insight into the life of the Athlone Town manager.

JUST weeks since their inception, Athlone IT's ladies soccer team have taken the intervarsity scene by storm! Formed in early October following requests for a ladies soccer team, the tight-knit panel have re-paid the college's faith in them by heading up division two of the intervarsities league as the competition heads into its Christmas recess.

Local girls Aisling Brophy and Rosemarie Shiels provide the Athlone connection in a squad that envelops the four corners of the country. The AIT ladies have two of the top coaches in the area too. Padraig Dully — he of Athlone Town fame ± and Tom Silke, an FAI Cup winner this year, have rowed in behind the team.

OUR project team started back in May and I think we all thought that things would happen faster — but maybe that was my lack of knowledge and experience of a project such as this. I will be the first to admit that I would have no experience of something like this. And it was completely out of the blue that the club approached and asked me would I take on the project.

Last year, when I retired from Gateaux, I was at a loose end and was debating whether or not to go into my own cake business part-time. So I said I'd take a break because I'd left school when I was 18 and I'd been working ever since, thankfully. So I said I'd take a couple of months to size things up and that time frame was more-or-less up and then the club approached me and said 'look, we have this project, we're wondering would you be interested in heading it up and see if you can drive it forward for us.'

Life has certainly thought Eric Molloy a lesson or two as he witnessed his big dream turn into a stark reality. When he set sail across the Irish Sea to the bright lights of Old Trafford, the then kid from Moate had visions of making a massive name for himself at the biggest club in the world.

The diminutive winger learned a lot of life's lessons in the north of England. His attitude was questioned, so too his temperament and his experience can be a lesson for all those schoolboy players with ambitions of making it across the water.

I HAVE been with Willow Park since 1990. I was introduced there by Fergal McCormack who was involved with the club at the time.

I'm from Parnell Square originally which would have been one of the traditional schoolboy football strongholds. The Beaumont family and the Wharby family, they were synonymous with football in Athlone at the time, and of course the likes of Tommy Barker.

It hasn't been easy supporting Athlone Town over the last decade. The club, once the undoubted pride of the Midlands, has spent eight seasons in the First Division, being forced to apply for re-election to the league for the first time in its history last season.

But as the club face a bright new future with their new stadium on the horizon, there are those who still believe. And none more so than two Athione natives currently living in Tyrone and regularly travelling 300 miles to set The boys in black and blue.

EVEN after all these years I am still really enjoying football. To be honest it's a dream to be involved in the game from Monday to Friday. My life, seemingly, is destined to be spent in tracksuit!

Training the girls at Athlone IT has been a real breath of fresh air. I think they've enjoyed it as much as Tom and I have. We work with them twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, and the college are good enough to bus them over to St Peters' marvellous all-weather facility. We normally have 24 or 25 girls at a session. These weeks will see that number drop slightly because of exams and semester assessments.

If you add in the stadium plans, the AGM, transfers, the scramble to hold on to players and the extended deadline for the National League clubs to submit financial documentation in support of the licence application, it will prove to be a vital few months in the story of progression for Athlone Town Football Club and for Irish football.

Early March will see clubs anxiously waiting on the final Licensing decisions just weeks before the new season kicks off on the 27th of March. This season hasn't been great but it wasn't a disaster if you look at the fortunes of Kilkenny and Monaghan and at least The Town comfortably avoided having to apply for re-election. Positive things can be taken from this first full season of Summer soccer like the emergence of Des Hope and Ger O'Brien as a first-rate defenders and Martin Reilly's run of form towards the end of the campaign.