Kate Mooney on keeping the WPD title race alive for Shelbourne against history-chasing Athlone Town
Shelbourne must beat Peamount to keep pressure on Athlone, who are so close to their first League crown. Kate Mooney's goals have kept the Reds in touch.
Kate Mooney says Shelbourne are driven not to slip up - just in case Athlone Town do.
The midlanders can seal their first-ever WPD title with a game to spare by beating Bohemians tomorrow night.
But Shels - three points behind in second place - can pile the pressure on by beating last year's champions Peamount earlier in the day.
READ MORE: Difficult club v county choice paying off for Shauna Brennan as she closes in on double glory
READ MORE: Kate Mooney nursing pro dreams after electric start with Peamount United
Mooney helped keep the title race alive last week with the winner at Galway - scoring with the kind of poacher's effort she has trademarked since starting her second spell at the Reds in July - while Athlone drew with Shamrock Rovers.
"I kept the League alive," the 25-year-old laughed. "We have to believe we can do it. If something happens and Athlone don't win, we can't have already let it slip. So we're going to give it our all, even if it means securing second place.
"At the same time, we're going to have to take some of the pressure off our backs. We don't want to lose it because we felt too much pressure."
Whatever happens, the Athlone-Shels rivalry that has built over the last two seasons will reach boiling point in a fortnight's time when the sides meet in the FAI Cup final for the third year running.
Shels won the 2022 decider but Athlone gained revenge by winning on penalties last season. "It's been building," acknowledged Mooney. "We have a point to prove, we have a lot of fire in the belly."
She herself won the Cup with Shels almost a decade ago, but she didn't feature. "Hopefully this time I'll win having played my part," said the striker. "It's a goal I want to achieve."
Mooney returned to Tolka Park with a lot of experienced banked, both on and off the pitch. She joined DLR Waves in 2021, then Peamount ahead of the 2023 season.
With her nursing degree finished, she got a move to England last September, joining Championship side Lewes.
Her days of 14 hour shifts as a nursing intern were over but she was late going over to the south-east based club and missed pre-season.
"That made it quite a tough start," said Mooney. "But I learned so much from the experience - the competitiveness, the work rate the girls all put in every single day in the hope of making it.
"I wish I had gone over a little bit younger, when I was 19, maybe, and so had built a bank of experience over a few years. So it was tough."
Wanting more game time, she made the decision to move to Hearts. "I wanted to use everything I had learned," explained Mooney.
"We got to a Scottish Cup final and to score in the semi-final was unreal. I enjoyed it, they're a very progressive team and will build into a strong side in the coming years.
For one thing, Mooney came to realise that she was too eager with her runs into the box and now times her moments much better - hence the prolific run that she is on.
Peamount wanted her back but Shels won that battle and she is combining her Reds career with nursing work. "I grew up with Shels and it felt like I was coming back home," she said.
"I just think I went over a bit late and that I could have done better. I still had another year there but wanted to be playing regularly. Coming home was the best thing. But it wouldn't put me off going back over if the chance came.
"I moved away from home, met a lot of new people and learned so much about the game and my own game. I only improved as a human and as a footballer."
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