Tue | Dec 24, 2024

Cornwall hammer McGrath 5-0

Published:Friday | December 17, 2021 | 7:17 AMKavarly Arnold/Gleaner Writer
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Clarendon College’s Marques Reid (left) and Cornwall College’s Dane Buckley battle for the ball during the ISSA/daCosta Cup football match at STETHS Sports Complex on Saturday. Clarendon won 2-1.
Ashley Anguin
Clarendon College’s Marques Reid (left) and Cornwall College’s Dane Buckley battle for the ball during the ISSA/daCosta Cup football match at STETHS Sports Complex on Saturday. Clarendon won 2-1.
An employee of Archer's Funeral Home throws water on to a section of a house that was destroyed by fire on Wednesday. The blaze tore through a home and school and damaged the administrative section of the funeral home.
Kenyon Hemans/Photographer
An employee of Archer's Funeral Home throws water on to a section of a house that was destroyed by fire on Wednesday. The blaze tore through a home and school and damaged the administrative section of the funeral home.
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Western Bureau:

CORNWALL COLLEGE have certainly found their groove, shrugging off last Saturday’s defeat to pummel McGrath High 5-0 in their Inter-Secondary Schools’ Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel daCosta Cup group quarterfinal football match at Manchester High School yesterday.

The result lifted Cornwall into second place to draw level on three points with Manchester High, who hold an inferior goal difference after a 2-0 loss to leaders Clarendon College (six points).

Devin Johnson gave Cornwall the lead 13 minutes into the contest with a brilliant shot to the top right hand corner. The first half ended 1-0.

Cornwall were gifted an opportunity to extend the lead two minutes after the break when the McGrath High goalkeeper brought down the forward in the box. Dane Buckley converted from the penalty spot.

Mikhail Samuels made it three-nil with a brilliant header one minute before the hour-mark and then returned for his second in the 73rd minute. Johnson claimed the title of ‘five-star general’ by putting the icing on the cake seven minutes later.

Assistant coach of Cornwall, Warren Barrett, was happy his boys eventually found their rhythm to get some goals, which could prove crucial after the final round of group games this weekend.

“I had to remind them. I gave them a harsh word at half-time because we were too passive. We needed goals and knew the importance of scoring, but I don’t think the mindset of the boys was to quicken the pace of the game. We were leading 1-0 at half-time, and I told them it was not good enough,” Barrett said.

FAR BETTER SITUATION

“The only thing I told them tactically was to play the ball in the spaces over the top behind the wing backs, where we were having joy in the first half. We went on to score four in the second half, so at least this puts us in a far better situation,” he added.

Coach of McGrath High, Jermaine Thomas, said that while it was disappointing to lose in that manner, the overall picture centred on the season, and they were now looking towards Saturday’s final game of the round.

“It was one of those tough ones, and you don’t want to lose 5-0. We started well, created a couple of early breakthroughs but gave up a soft goal in the first half. Conceding that penalty at the start of the second half really threw us off,” Thomas said.

“Overall as a programme, I think that we are doing well, which is the most important thing. For us, getting back to the quarterfinals is a big achievement, and I have to commend the boys. We will continue to build and look to close out this round strong. We will be looking to fix some small issues on the field,” he added.

In other games, Frome ran out 9-2 winners over St Thomas Tech and Garvey Maceo and STETHS played out a 2-2 draw.