Athlone Town sweat on fitness of key trio ahead of 'massive' Champions League qualifier
Colin Fortune's side face Welsh outfit Cardiff City at Athlone Town Stadium on Wednesday [KO 7.30pm, live on LOI TV], with over 1,000 tickets snapped up.
But the Women's Premier Division champions have several injury concerns. Attacking star Gibson went off injured in last Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Treaty United, while captain Groves hasn't played since last month's FAI Cup win over Terenure Rangers.
In-form striker Brady is also a doubt after coming off against Treaty, but is hopeful she can be available.
'We're assessing them. They're massive players,' Fortune told reporters on a Zoom call this afternoon.
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'We're going to assess them again tonight. We're getting a lot of rehab and physio done with them. We're hopeful, but at this point, we're still a little bit out and it's very hard to make a call on it yet.
'The Treaty game thrown in when it was didn't help us, I don't think we're developed for that yet, them type of games coming around as quick as they did, I don't think we're ready for that and it's done a bit of damage to us in relation to our preparation.
'Listen, that's it. We move on. If the guys are available, brilliant. You want them players available, the experience they bring, but if they're not, we've other players ready to come in. We'll get behind whatever 11 players are on the pitch — it's not even the 11, it's about the squad, it's about the 24, 25 players we have.
'We'll give Cardiff a right go no matter who's on the pitch.'
While Athlone remain unbeaten atop the Women's Premier Division table, Cardiff City — the reigning Welsh double champions — come into this tie out of season.
It's their third consecutive Champions League appearance, while Athlone are making their debut in European women's competition.
Athlone Town manager Colin Fortune. James Lawlor / INPHO James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
'It's massive for us, it really is,' said Fortune. 'The atmosphere around Athlone at the minute is really, really electric. Every person you meet on the street is talking about this Champions League game.
'The opportunity for us to host a Champions League game . . . it's '83 since we hosted Standard Liège last. That's a long, long time for a club like Athlone. I know in recent history Athlone hasn't been in a good place, but the women's team have been in a good place. They've been very, very good.
'This is massive for our club, it's massive for the community, it's massive for the football people of Athlone. Athlone town is a football town. Something like this might just get people back on side, get people back supporting the club.'
The winners of Wednesday's first qualifying round semi-final face ŽNK Agram of Croatia in the final at Athlone Town Stadium on Saturday.
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