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Dean George scored a brilliant hat-trick when Athlone Town stunned Premier Division Shelbourne in Lissywollen to reserve their spot in the FAI Extra Cup semi-finals.
Adrian Carberry’s team, which finished second-last in the First Division, will now host Bohemians or Dundalk in the midland club’s first appearance in the Blue Riband semi-finals since 1998.
By winning the toss, Shelbourne chose to play with the strong breeze behind him in the first half, forcing an early corner.
But the high rebound on the astro field, coupled with the no small persistence of the Town George forward, gave the First Division team a surprising lead in three minutes.
Shels defender Dan Byrne miscalculated Jack Reynolds’ ball bouncing forward to allow George to come in from behind to force a Jack Brady save.
Athlone recovered the ball well with Taner Dogan and sent it right to Adam Lennon, whose cross was drilled near the net by George.
Ian Morris’s Dubliners responded to equalize in four minutes.
Pressing well from an Athlone throw-in, the ball ran gently for Ciaran Kilduff and the striker launched a low shot into the far corner of Aaron Myles’ net from the edge of the area.
Myles then readjusted well to push a deflected shot from Ryan Brennan, assisted by the wind, into the third corner of Shels’s game.
The visitors kept the pressure on the home goal, Denzil Fernandes disappointed not having found the goal with a header from a cross from opposite winger Dayle Rooney.
But poor defense cost Shelbourne once again, as they conceded a second goal in the 20th minute into Athlone’s first corner of the game.
Left back David Brookes launched his deep throw to the far post. Shels didn’t take care of that, allowing local captain Scott Delaney to sweep the fumble to the ceiling of the net from close range.
And it might as well have been 3-1 in 32 minutes as Shels once again struggled to defend an excellent delivery from another Brookes corner.
Ciaran Grogan’s header hit the post before Brady cleared it with Athlone claiming the ball had crossed the line without being stopped by match officials.
Myles added to their stoppage in the first half with a superb reaction stop to deprive Shelbourne of a second draw 10 minutes after the break.
A Rooney cross on the left flank caught Kilduff in the box, but Myles opened wide to make a tremendous save.
But the goal frame would rescue Shelbourne once again in the hour, Brookes’s superbly hit free kick that came off Brady’s right post.
Athlone then punished a shocking error to clinically extend his lead by 66 minutes.
Without any pressure, the shels’ right back Aidan Friel went straight to George, who still had a bit to do, taking the ball between two defenders to fire a left foot shot into the bottom corner of Brady’s net.
The hat-trick came in the 78th minute and was the 22-year-old forward’s selection of goals.
Ronan Manning sent a perfect pass down the middle for George to run and launch his shot into the net from the edge of the area.
Athlone City: Aaron Myles; Tumelo Tlou, Scott Delaney, Ciaran Grogan, David Brookes; Mark Birrane, Taner Dogan (Jordan Carroll 90 + 4); Adam Lennon (Evan White 90 + 1), Ronan Manning, Jack Reynolds; Dean George (Sheen Nealon 90)
Shelbourne: Jack Brady; Aidan Friel (Daniel O’Reilly 71), Oscar Brennan, Dan Byrne, Alex O’Hanlon (Aaron Dobbs 71); Gary Deegan, Mark Byrne; Denzil Fernandes (Karl Sheppard ht), Ryan Brennan (Shane Farrell 61), Dayle Rooney (Karl Moore 61); Ciaran Kilduff.
Referee: Damien MacGraith (May).
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