Saturday morning saw Clane United and Arlington meet for the second time this season with Clane having home advantage. Conditions were good and dry with a slight breeze across the pitch. Clane tipped off and for the first eight minutes had Arlington’s defence under siege. Clear cut chances were at a premium with Tadgh Montgomery and Natanial Harris denied by the Arlington keeper. The home-side continued to push forward but a long ball from the Arlington’s Kieran Finnelly and a super run from Jamie Connolly put the visitors one up after twelve minutes of play. This seemed to spur the home side on and it took fifteen minutes of play to break down a dogged Arlington defence. Clane won a corner kick and Brian McLoughlin headed home to leave the match 1-1. Arlington tipped off but were under attack straight away with excellent play from Daniel Hahn (Clane’s Captain) and Ross Kinsella. The ball was played down the middle to Tadgh Montgomery who was fouled and awarded a penalty. Kinsella duly converted from the spot to leave the match 2-1 at the interval.

The Second half started with Clane once again setting the pace. The introduction of Brian Corbett, Owen O’Loughlin and Kyle Hussy brought fresh legs to the home side. Clane deservedly got their third goal when hard-working Brian McLoughlin put Kyle Hussy through with only the keeper to beat. Kyle made no mistake and side footed to the corner of the net to leave the match 3-1. Clane were now hungry for the ball with the mid-field pairing of Corbett and O’Loughlin closing down the opposition every time. It was always going to be a struggle for Arlington as they had no subs and with pressure mounting, Brian McLoughlin netted two more goals to earn him a well deserved hat-trick.

Arlington’s never say die attitude made it uncomfortable for the Clane defence of Adam Donovan, Caolan Smith and Colm O’Sullivan who gave a solid display of defending. With the clock ticking, the visitors won the ball out on the right and continued to push forward down the wing. Jamie Hanlon crossed to find John Kelly in the box who booted the ball to the back of the net to leave the score 5-2 to Clane United. Clane deservedly won the game but Arlington should take credit for their excellent attitude when they fell behind. Best for Arlington was Kieran Finnelly in defence. Best for Clane was Brian McLoughlin who worked tirelessly throughout the game. Both clubs should be congratulated for the excellent spirit in which the game was played.

Another great display from the kids on the under 7's.

The conditions were good and our team were well organised against  good opposition. The teams were evenly matched in the first period and there was good end to end play. In the second period Clane got the deserved breakthrough from Liam Wright.

In the Third period well taken goals by Liam Wright and Andrew Farrell put Clane three up, but then Kill scored twice to make a game of it. With all to play for in the last period, Kill threw everything at the Clane defence which held out well. With Kill pressing on, it left gaps at the back and Sean Connolly scored twice to put the game beyond doubt.

Both sides took to the field with players missing due to the mid term break.

After early pressure from Clane, the visitors from Bush settled into the game and great deffending from Larry Kelly kept the Clane side at bay. Mid way through the first period Bush mounted a number of attacks on the Clane goal through their forwards Kallum Ennis and Adam McInerney.

These advances on goal were well controlled by the two Clane defenders Gareth Cleary and James Behan, who both had outstanding games for the home side. The midfield battle saw Bush celtic's Stephen Crowley pit his witts against the ever strong Sean Callan and his midfield partner Sam McCormack. Both sides went in level at the break and deservedly so.

Clane got  the better of the early exchanges in the second half with strong running from centre forward Jack Wright and Sean Callan causing Bush early problems. If it wasn't for Bush keeper David Sutton the deadlock might have been broken earlier. With ten minutes remaining the eventual winner arrived through good work from Padraig Lally playing the ball through to Sean Callan who calmly slotted home.

Clane could have gone two up shortly after when a great pass from Evan Heary was struck by Jack Wright only to hit the underside of the crossbar and come back out off the line. A late chance by Bush was calmly collected by Clane stand in keeper Sean Hannon. His resulting kick out was followed by the final whistle and a loud chear as the home side recorded a well desrved victory.

Credit to both teams for the manner in which they conducted themselves.

Dean Callan and Dylan Hannon were instrumental in seeing Clane United through to the next round of the under 14 Cup. This is not to say it was an individual performance from either player, as the Clane side played as a unit throughout this game with each and every player making a huge contribution to the excellent performance of the team as a whole.

The first half commenced at a fast pace and it was Clane who were first to show with Kilcock Keeper, Greg Murphy, into action, to keep his team in the game. Callan and Hannon shot wide on a number of occasions and it was beginning to look like “one of those games” when you do everything right and the ball still fails to go in the net. It was 24 minutes before the deadlock was broken with Killian Patchell picking up the ball in midfield and shimmying past a couple of the Kilcock midfield before sending a perfect pass to the feet of Dylan Hannon, who calmly broke the deadlock.

Within minutes Kilcock were on the attack and Clane failed to clear the ball from their lines cleanly and a penalty was awarded for Kilcock which Shane O’Rourke converted very well. This was a wake up call to Clane and for the further 8 minutes they had all the possession. The sides were level at half time.

After a good talking to about the importance of taking your chances and making sure they count, Clane were back on form within minutes of the second half commencing, with Dean Slattery sending the ball over the midfield and Callan going on a run and slamming the ball into the back of the net. Minutes later a corner was awarded to Clane and Callan sent it in to the back post, where Hannon was waiting to slot it home. Clane’s back line of Sean O’Rourke, Dean Slattery, Karl Cleary and Andrew Power were as solid a wall, little got past them and if it did it could not get past the net minder, Peter Hogarty, who is proving himself to be a superb keeper.

Unfortunately Kilcock tried to play the “offside trap” and this proved to be their downfall as time and time again Callan and Hannon broke through to score a “Hat Trick” each and 1 extra for Hannon. This was all with the help of Clane’s midfield of Killian Patchell, Stephen Byrne, Shane Ryan and Scot Hannon knowing just when to release the perfect ball to set them on their way. 

With minutes to go a corner was awarded to Clane and Karl Cleary went up to slot home a brilliant header from Callan’s corner.

Darren O’Connor, Shane O’Rourke and James Grogan all performed well for Kilcock but on the day it was a fair result for Clane to take the points.