Tommy Hewitt convinced Athlone can realise title dream

Athlone Town boss Tommy Hewitt says he won't rest until he brings the Women's Premier Division crown to the midlands, despite the "huge challenge" newly-formed Shamrock Rovers will pose in the coming season.

Hewitt's young side took the league by storm last year, completely blindsiding the established big guns as they came within a whisker of winning the title and made it to the FAI Cup final.

Shelbourne pipped Athlone to both the league and the cup but that has only deepened Hewitt's hunger for glory.

He's convinced his team can go again, despite losing Melissa O'Kane and centre-half Jessica Hennessy to Rovers, with star striker Emily Corbet looking unlikely to stay on for another year.

"From the minute the cup final finished, I was fighting fires all over the place trying to keep players," said Hewitt, who has been nominated in the Women's Personality of the Year category at this Saturday's SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland awards.

"Your brain never stops because you want to improve and I think I said it after the cup final that we were going to come back a different animal this season and that's still the plan, even though we've lost a few players, to come back and compete.

"For me as a manager, there's no hiding behind the fact we're a new team. We have to now go out and try and win the league. It's going to be tough but its one I'm really looking forward to.

"I don't think I've had a day off. Even Christmas Day, my phone was ringing which comes with any job. I'm really, really looking forward to this season."

Athlone came second on the league having been in with a shout of winning right up to the last day. A week later, they lost 2-0 to Shels on an afternoon when luck deserted them, but there's a resilience in the club