Athlone skipper Laurie Ryan has dual final dilemma

It will be a strange feeling for Athlone Town captain Laurie Ryan when she leads the team out to face Shelbourne at Tallaght Stadium in Sunday's EVOKE.ie FAI Women's Cup final.

There'll be pride and determination of course, but also a nagging question in the back of her mind: how are Banner doing?

Ryan isn't just a driving force behind Athlone's run to their first ever cup final; she's also a quality Gaelic footballer, starring for Clare in the championship and more recently driving her club Banner in the county and provincial competitions.

Banner beat Fethard a week ago to set up a Munster SFC decider against Ballymacarbry. One problem: it throws in at the same time as the soccer cup final.

"We won the county championship and made the Munster final, which is on at 3pm on Sunday as well," said Ryan.

"It was a bit of a disaster. We tried to get it pushed back a week because there is a gap week there, but the other team, Ballymacarbry from Waterford, didn't approve. There is a big chance of winning it with Mourneabbey of Cork knocked out because they would have been our stumbling block in the last few years.

"We are under no illusion that they will come and go for us."

"The minute we won the Munster semi-final, we knew and sent an email to the Munster Council straight away to get it changed but I have been really lucky the girls have been understanding of me being captain of Athlone.

"My loyalties are there at the moment, but it's disappointing to miss the big days with the club as well."

A winner's medal in Tallaght would be a great way to eradicate any mixed feelings and an incredible end to what's been a breakthrough year for Athlone.

They pushed Shels right to the wire in the league, eventually finishing second. Nobody would