Tommy Hewitt hoping Athlone can be pride of midlands

Athlone Town boss Tommy Hewitt is looking to be the pride of the midlands on Sunday evening as his team chase a dream EVOKE.ie FAI Cup victory.

Athlone have been arguably the story of the SSE Airtricity Women's National League season.

In just their third year of existence, they were a whisker away from winning the title, finishing two points behind Shelburne having pushed Noel King's side to the final day.

They now face the Reds in Sunday's decider at Tallaght Stadium and for Hewitt, it's the realisation of a burning ambition.

"There was definitely a need for a national league team in the midlands," he said.

"I was involved in the men's game for a long time, back a few years ago I got involved with the midlands' Gaynor Cup teams, the girls teams, and speaking with Micky O'Connor, John Hayden, the guys at the club, they had a vision to have a senior women's team, probably not as soon as it came about but it was always my hope because I knew the talent that was in the midlands.

"We have the group together really since last year, we kept 80% of them for this year and this is what we were trying to achieve when we set out at the start of the season.

"Our goals were to finish in the top five and have a good cup run and it just snowballed from there, really. Now we're in a cup final and it's fantastic. We're really looking forward to it."

A number of Hewitt's players are studying and living at Athlone IT - Jess Hennessy, Maddison Gibson and Roisin Molloy to name but three.

AIT is an important factor in the club continuing to attract good players, but there's always the danger Athlone will be a victim of their own success as bigger clubs circle for their stars.

"I think the way the league is developing players at the moment, if players