Clane turn on the style against Birr with 31-0 win

Clane put on a dominant display last Sunday afternoon when they hosted and swept aside Birr. First-half tries from Harry Younge and Andrew McCormack, a Jamie Clyne penalty to go along with his conversions, put the Kildare men well ahead at half-time.

Julian Zebedee’s brace of tries in the second-half sealed the victory beyond doubt, and despite their best efforts, Birr could never break down the opposing defence.

From the start, it went right for Clane, who held a first-half wind advantage. After a competitive but scoreless opening ten minutes, and a turn-over at scrum time, Julian Zebedee slipped Harry Younge through a gap in the Birr defence close to the whitewash to slide over for the game’s opening try. Jamie Clyne added the extras to begin a flawless performance off the kicking tee. He would split the posts after a hard won turnover deep into opposition territory to extend the lead further after 20 minutes, when in the final moments of the first-half, Birr were dealt a serious blow.

A slick passing move involving Jamie Clyne and Harry Younge would leave Andrew McCormack darting under the posts for his try, after picking out a superb angle of running. Once Clyne added the extras, Clane could enjoy a 17-0 interval lead.

Birr could never threaten the Clane try-line. Their best chance of a score came four minutes into the second-half, when Michael Keane’s long-range penalty effort went wide, despite the aid of the elements. There was no looking back from the perspective of the hosts at this stage, and they wrapped up proceedings with a brace of tries from Julian Zebedee. His first came on 60 minutes; darting towards the line and scoring after a tap and go from a penalty won. His second was the final act of the game, and after a great burst from Tom Malone, Zebedee was on hand to firstly gain more ground closer to the try line.

After some hammering at the Birr defence, Zebedee finally touched down for try number four. Harry Younge will be gutted not to have added to his teams account ten minutes from full-time. He managed to get through the defence, yet dropped the ball over the line, partially due to the excellent pressure of two Birr players. Jamie Clyne converted both tries, and a dominant victory was won for Clane.

CLANE RFC: Andrew McCormack (1 try), Andrew Duff, Harry Younge (1 try), Julian Zebedee (2tries), Ciaran McKeon, Jamie Clyne (1 penalty, 4 conversions), Zack Zebedee; Michael Jordan, Sean Southgate, Culann Healy, Luke Gannon, Gavin Egan, Aidan Doyle, Oisin Cooke, Tom Malone. Substitutes: James Caullier for Ciaran McKeon (half-time), Mick Jordan for Luke Gannon and Jimmy McMahon for Aidan Doyle (55), Colm Gordan for Oisin Cooke and Louis Malone for Andrew Duff (60), Peter Pansegrouw for Michael Jordan (70).

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