- Cork City have won 10, drawn 0 and lost 2 of their 12 home games in the First Division 2026
- Athlone Town have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 9 of their 12 away fixtures in the First Division 2026
- Cork City have scored 30 goals in 12 home matches in the First Division 2026
Cork to control the play
Cork City will play with the confidence of a team that knows it is in the driving seat on Monday when they face an Athlone Town side that have made themselves hard to beat.
The Rebels have won two and lost three of their last five matches, but it was only after a 5-2 defeat to UCD that they turned on the style to beat Finn Harps 3-0 away from home.
Gerard Nash has been in charge of Cork since 15 May, 2025, and his side's position at the top of the First Division 2026 table shows his team are a well-oiled machine. They can be ruthless and they have the personnel to execute a variety of tactics. They play on the front foot, dictating the tempo with their possession and width while trying to stretch teams with their wing-backs and midfield runners.
They will do that again against an Athlone Town that are compact, pragmatic and will sit in a 4-4-2 block and look to nick a goal or two on the counter.
Athlone won’t walk over
The market makes no bones about which way this is going to go, with Cork City 2/5 favourites, Athlone Town 73/10 underdogs and the draw priced at 33/10. The form, home record and head-to-head all point to the home side coming out on top, but Athlone Town's low-block setup should ensure the game is not as one-sided as the bookmakers seem to think.
Athlone Town arrive in mixed form themselves with two wins, one draw and two defeats in their last five. Sean O'Connor's team drew 0-0 at home to UCD last time out after a 2-1 away defeat to Treaty United. They have lost their two most recent away matches and go into this game on the back foot.
Keating is Cork’s sharpest shooter
Cork have scored 30 times in 12 home games so it is hard to see this being a tight match for the home team. Athlone have managed to score only seven times in 12 away games and the visitors' goal output is one of the reasons they are in eighth place in the table with 28 points from 25 games.
The top team in the division has 57 points from 25 matches and the table tells the story of promotion pace versus survival battle. The hosts have the ball and should get the win, but we like Cork to win and under 3.5 goals.
Ruairi Keating has been Cork's main man in front of goal of late, scoring four times in his last five appearances to take his tally to nine for the season. He can be relied upon to finish if Cork are successful in getting in behind the visitors.
