KDFL Under 20 Division 1
Kill Celtic FC 0 Clane United FC 9
It was a mixed bag weather wise on Saturday afternoon as Clane United made the short trip for this North Kildare derby against home side Kill Celtic. A very busy car park at 1.30pm as the teams warmed up demonstrated a thriving football community in Kill as multiple schoolboy/girl matches were ongoing at this fine facility. Neither team were able to field their strongest team on the day with a combination of injuries, exams and work depleting both squads.
The home side started with a full complement against the visitors 10 as Clane waited for the last of the Oral Irish exams to be completed for reinforcements. However, that didn’t deter the visitors with John Fitzsimons going close early on before Conor Reilly tested Adam Mazur for the home side on five minutes. Clane held a slight advantage in the early stages and on eight minutes Scott Britton broke through on the left and shot across Benjamin Rowe in the Kill goal. Rowe pulled off a strong save but was powerless to stop Ben Kirwan from following in the rebound to open the scoring. Shortly after Fitzsimons doubled the Clane advantage when Mark Lee failed to notice the winger coming in behind him and tuck the ball neatly away. On twenty minutes Kill Celtic’s task became all the more difficult when Jason Brady was forced off injured as he collided with Mazur in the Clane area as he tried to get him team back into the game.
Reilly and Max McCann were dangerous for Kiil in the middle of the park and both threatened the Clane goal as the half wore on. On the half hour Clane were awarded a penalty for handball but Allooya Alarpe shot wide form the spot. The final fifteen minutes of the first half remained a tight affair with both sides going close in an entertaining game.
Clane were restored to eleven men for the start of the second half as James Ralph came on and he made an immediate impact freeing Scott Britton who coolly slotted past Rowe on forty seven minutes to make it 3-0. Clane, with a man advantage were now playing with their tails up and Ralph helped himself to a goal on fifty three minutes with a smart finish from the edge of the area. Six minutes later Kirwan took advantage of some great approach play by Ross Murphy and Adam Hinds to power home Clane 5th. Kill to their credit continued to try and play football and with twenty minutes remaining the very lively Alex Duddy forced Mazur into a stunning save turning Duddy’s goal bound shot onto the cross bar. A wonderful effort equalled by a wonderful save. The visitors responded with the current KDFL young player of the year James Ralph completing his hat trick with a quick fire brace, the second a crisp finish form twenty yards out to put this game to bed. Kill tried manfully but the numerical advantage showed on a tiring team and Aimon Amjal took advantage of some great work in the Kill box by Eoin Geraghty to make it eight. In the final minutes Clane put a big gloss on the game with a strike for Britton, his second of the game, finished the scoring for the afternoon.
Best for Kill on a difficult afternoon were Adam Dunne, Mark Lee, Max McCann, Alex Donohoe and Alex Duddy. Clane were superbly marshalled by Aidan Ralph and Eoin Geraghty at the back, with Ross Murphy, Ben Kirwan, James Ralph and MOTM Scott Britton.