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Penalty fire

Defending Champs, Glenmuir through to daCosta Cup final

Published:Sunday | November 26, 2023 | 12:12 AMLennox Aldred - Gleaner Writer
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Photo by Lenox Aldred Clarendon College substitute goalkeeper Lydel Rodney (centre) is mobbed by players and supporters following their 4-3 penalty shootout win over Garvey Maceo in the ISSA/daCosta Cup semifinals at Glenmuir High yesterday.
Lenox Aldred
Photo by Lenox Aldred Clarendon College substitute goalkeeper Lydel Rodney (centre) is mobbed by players and supporters following their 4-3 penalty shootout win over Garvey Maceo in the ISSA/daCosta Cup semifinals at Glenmuir High yesterday.
Photo by Lenox Aldred Clarendon College captain and man of the match, Malachi Douglas (left), celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal against Garvey Maceo in their ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup semi-final encounter at Glenmuir High School on Satu
Lennox Aldred
Photo by Lenox Aldred Clarendon College captain and man of the match, Malachi Douglas (left), celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal against Garvey Maceo in their ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup semi-final encounter at Glenmuir High School on Saturday.
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CLARENDON COLLEGE and Glenmuir High School are through to the ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup final after safely negotiating the fire of penalty kicks in their semifinal encounters against Garvey Maceo and Dinthill, respectively, yesterday.

It wasn’t their best display of football, but defending champions Clarendon College found a way to book their passage with a 4-3 penalty kick win after the teams had played to a 1-1 draw in full time at Glenmuir High.

Over at Manchester High, Glenmuir squeezed into the final with the same margin of victory after a 0-0 full-time result.

Clarendon College and Garvey Maceo kicked off their fixture in front of a jam-packed school ground, and the all-Clarendon derby did not disappoint, despite both teams tapering off at times throughout the 90 minutes.

The first real chance in the encounter came in the 34th minute when Kahiem Dixon’s low stab at goal following a right-side cross was well kept out by Garvey’s custodian Chrishmar Maxwell.

The ever-pressing Clarendon side would, however, get the opening goal they deserved when Malachi Douglas made a solo run into the Garvey Maceo area before he was taken down by defender Olando Lee Blake inside the area in first-half stoppage time.

Douglas would rifle home the resulting penalty kick, igniting the thousands of travelling Clarendon College supporters.

The second half saw the ‘Cubanz’ of Garvey Maceo coming out more purposeful, coach Merron Gordon giving them the licence to run at the Clarendon backline.

That instruction would bear fruit in the 77th minute when Omarian Obrian was brought down by Daniel Clarke on the edge of the area.

Cleo Clarke would step up to convert the penalty to lock the scoreline at one all.

Clarendon coach, Lenworth Hyde, on recommendation of goalkeeper coach Kemar Foster, brought on substitute goalkeeper Lydel Rodney, who would be the hero on the day, saving Clarke’s penalty and then watching Obrian kick wide. Clarendon were perfect from the spot.

Hyde praised the effort of the substitute goalkeeper.

“We have been kicking penalties for months now, session after session, and this goalkeeper has saved a lot in training so we decided to put him in and that is one of the reasons why we are in the final.”

Gordon praised a truly gritty performance from his team, despite the loss.

“Tactically, we planned for them and we really did well because they have a lot of quality players. I thought my team stuck to the task right through and I think this game was fitting of a final, but hats off to them.”