FEATURE GAME

KDFL Under 20 Division.

Newbridge Rovers FC 1 Clane United FC 4

As the 2024/2025 Under 20 enters the final few weeks four teams entered last weekend harbouring ambitions to lift the title. The visit of Clane United to Newbridge Rovers and the visit of Monasteravin to Rathangan saw all four teams in action against each other as the most pivotal set of fixtures took place on the weekend of our national holiday.

Clane United made the trip to Chapel lane to meet a Newbridge Rovers side that had announced themselves as serious contenders for the season prizes with an emphatic Cup victory  over near neighbours Newbridge United followed up by a win over top of the table Rathangan to propel themselves in league contention. Clane’s last game had seen them come from 3-0 down to secure a 4-4 draw against the same Rathangan side a number of weeks ago.  On a glorious spring day with perfect conditions for football, the stage was set with two in form teams going head to head at the top of the league.

The opening exchanges of the game were tentative as both sides cancelled each other out. On eight minutes a Newbridge went back to front quickly with a ball over the top. Callum Mooney in the Clane goal was swiftly off his line to deal with. The opening goal arrived on ten minutes – Clane left back Cillian Byrne found Liam Deane drifting off his right wing position into Rovers final third.  Deane slipped the ball beautifully into the path of Josh Gannon who made no mistake tucking the ball past the Rovers keeper.  Clane doubled their advantage two minutes later with a quick throw finding Gannon again free inside the Rovers area and this clinical young forward finished well.  Clane were now dominant, and the impressive Deane narrowly missed the target on eighteen following some fabulous play from Andrew Hyland in the Clane midfield. The Newbridge side, to their credit, continued to push forward at every opportunity but Sane Henry and Daire O’Beirne at the centre of the Clane defence were in impressive form. Gannon had a glorious chance on thirty three minutes to complete his hat trick but for an outstanding tackle from the Rovers centre half. On thirty five minutes a cross form Nathan Carr was turned onto his own crossbar by a Rovers defender as Clane looked to put this game to bed.  This very entertaining game further exploded in the forty second minutes when Rovers cut the deficit to one goal.  There seemed to be little danger as rovers won a free midway into the Clane half but a super ball caused confusion in the Clane backline and Timas Kacinskas nipped in with a fine header into the Clane Goal. Two minutes later Rovers found themselves with a mountain to climb when their left winger was sent off for a 2nd bookable offence.  From the resultant free kick, Adam Hinds produced a peach of a ball for Carr to excellently head home to restore Clane’s two goal advantage at half time.

The  second half kicked off at a slightly slower pace as Newbridge Rovers battled manfully, a man down, to close the spaces available to Clane. On fifty six minutes James Moore freed current KDFL Under 20 player of the year James Ralph  down the left and his pinpoint cross was nodded just wide by Carr. As Clane continued to press Newbridge put everything into defending their goal. On the hour Hinds’ fee kick was met by the excellent Shane Henry whose header from twelve yards put this game to bed. Both teams made a number of changes in the second half but the man advantage meant that Clane could maintain their grip on the game for the final half hour. Newbridge defended with tremendous effort and were effective in their endeavours for the final 30 minutes that will give them encouragement as they prepare for a rematch in the semi final of the Under 20 cup in the coming weeks. Clane, with that win have guaranteed themselves a minimum of a playoff as they seek to go one better than their runners up spot they achieved last year and now need only a point from their final game of the campaign against Kildare Town this Saturday. 

Best for Clane were Shane Henry in defence, Andrew Hyland and James Moore in the Middle and Josh Gannon up top .