The journey to the 2025 Sports Direct Women's FAI Cup Final has been longer for Katie Lovely considering she is Bohemians's longest-serving current player.

The Lusk native signed for The Gypsies when they entered the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division in 2020, so she appreciates the opportunity to take on Athlone Town in the showpiece event on Sunday, October 19th.

SECURE YOUR SEAT FOR THE 2025 SPORTS DIRECT WOMEN'S FAI CUP FINAL

"It definitely has been a journey for the last five years that I've been at the club but this is where we want to be. I'm the longest at the club from players in the squad," said Lovely.

"It definitely does feel surreal. As a young player growing up these are the kind of things that you dream of, going to a Cup Final. These are the days that you live for.

"It's been building blocks. In the first few years we didn't do as well as we would have wanted to but definitely this year we've hit the ground running. Last year we did do good but it wasn't good enough. Our goal this season was to get into the Cup Final."

Lovely has been excellent for Bohemians this season - reinventing herself as a reliable left-back - and played a vital part in securing her team's place in the Sports Direct Women's FAI Cup Final for the first time when she scored the opening goal in the Semi-Final victory over Treaty United.

The 22-year-old feels that the unseen work put in by her team-mates and the support staff is why they have arrived at their desired destination. But their adventure is not finished just yet.

"This is where all of the hard pays off. The dark nights of training, travelling around the country, putting all of the effort, it's all part of the journey to get to the Cup Final. Hopefully we can play as well as we can and leave it all out there on the day to bring the Cup back with us," she said.

The task for Bohemians is to find a way past an Athlone Town team who recently retained the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division title and have been to this Cup Final for the last three years in a row. So Lovely knows what type of challenge awaits.

"I think we can take the experience from the All-Island Cup Final in that we know what to expect from a Cup Final, handling the nerves and hype around it, as well as focusing on what we can do," said Lovely.

"We obviously won't be underestimating Athlone because we know what they can do and how good they are, but we also know what we can bring into this Cup Final on October 19th.

"We're going to go in with a game-plan and we're going to stick with that game-plan and we're going to believe in ourselves. At the end of the day, it's a Cup Final and it can go any way."

2025 Sports Direct Women's FAI Cup Final
Athlone Town v Bohemians
Sunday, October 19th
Tallaght Stadium
KO 15:00
LIVE on TG4
Tickets available here