It didn’t take a marketing genius to slap the ‘trilogy’ tag on this one, but then again many can recall a time when the marketing genius wouldn’t have been asked.
That alone may not be enough to guarantee, as Shelbourne veteran Pearl Slattery demands, “bums on seats”.
Despite being the most thrilling of their first pair of finals, last year’s penalty shoot-out win for the midlanders, as decorative a decider as one could possibly have conceived, attracted just 3,526.
More than 4,000 tickets had been sold, however, which obviously meant hundreds simply decided not to bother turning up.
It represented a startling dip in a calendar year that saw Ireland’s women participate in a maiden World Cup and draw 35,000 to the Aviva Stadium.
The previous year, there had been a second successive record crowd of 5,073, a relatively modest boast but nonetheless encouraging, who had watched Shelbourne clinch the double their great rivals are eyeing this afternoon.
But how many will be there to see it?
In a week when an existential debate has taken place about the value of validation, the purported sluggish sales may not augur well.
The storm clouds whipped up by this week’s startling moons may give way to bright skies tomorrow afternoon, and one would hope that a buoyant crowd can show up too.
Aside from the sporting bandwagons of Olympics and World Cups, grassroots female sport still struggles to occupy the hearts and minds of supporters, particularly female fans.
The heartening campaigns to promote female sport, from print to broadcast, has not been mirrored by similar levels of engagement when one moves into the shadows, away from the spotlights shining on Rhasidat and Kellie and Katie.
Those who operate away from the mainstream are enormously appreciative of those who seek to expose efforts undertaken mostly for the sheer love of sport, not for financial or personal gain.
Some even agree that the coverage is often disproportionate; it remains a bugbear that so much of it tends towards being patronising, as opposed to being a true celebration of sport on deserved merits.
Truly, Tallaght will tomorrow undeniably stage an event that demonstrates the pinnacle of the sport at a domestic level.
For those who are engaged, the intensity of the affair will not disappoint, even if cup finals always bear a caveat that the occasion may suffocate potential quality.
However, the narrative alone is captivating; Athlone, the Cinderella club only formed at the beginning of this decade, seeking to compile a double last garnered by Shelbourne in the pair’s first of three finals.
Even if already champions, Athlone retain the element of fairytale, such has been their meteoric rise, particularly within a soccer landscape so lamentably barren for generations.
Shelbourne didn’t win anything last year and, perhaps chiming with the former international who helms their men’s side, feel a little unappreciated.
“I don’t think we get the credit we deserve,” noted Slattery during a week when each side freely submitted to a novel rivalry now fully emergent.
“We are very hungry too,” notes Athlone boss Ciarán Kilduff. “That’s what we’ve based everything on. You talked earlier about bringing success out of Dublin, of course the objective is to break that dominance when you’re from the midlands.
“That is our fuel. But they have their fuel. We won the league, they came so close. They deserve success. They have a really, really good team. And we respect them. We don’t fear them. But we respect them.”
We have always admired gifted, deft Shels midfielder Noelle Murray but there are so many others to enthral.
Sharpshooters Kate Mooney for the Dubliners and Athlone striker Brenda Ebika Tabe, or those who seek to quell them, Jesi Rossman and Slattery.
Shels’ Leah Doyle and Athlone’s Kellie Brennan in opposition on the flanks; we suspect Athlone will seek to dominate possession in an initial 3-5-2, Shels maybe starting cautiously in a 3-4-2-1, albeit fiercely pressing off the ball.
Last year’s final was a wildly vacillating affair; an early fillip for either could prompt another wondrous whirligig.
A win each and a draw this season hints at the finest margins that, once more, may require a conclusion from 12 yards.
Hopefully they find an audience befitting such drama.
Athlone Town v Shelbourne, Live, tomorrow, RTÉ2, 3.0
