It was 1-1 going into the break but the boys from Jaffna coming strong in the second half and winning the match by 4-1 to seal their spot in the semi final of U19 Kothmale Football Tournament at the Race Course Ground.
St.Sebastian’s College Katuneriya and Zahira College qualified themselves to the semifinals yesterday beating St.Peter’s College and Maris Stella College respectively. 3rd quarter finals took place today (12th Feb) between St.Henry’s College Illavalai and Dharmaraja College Kandy.
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The football giants from Jaffna, St.Henry’s College took on Dharmaraja College in what looked like a mis-match after group A runners-up S.Thomas’ College pulled out due to unavailability of players.
St.Henry’s College won four of their group stage matches while drawing against De Mazenod College 2-2. St.Henry’s won against St.Sebastian’s College, St.Mary’s College and St.Joseph Vaz College. The lads from Jaffna have scored over 17 goals and have conceded only 2.
Since S.Thomas’ College pulled out third placed Dharmaraja was promoted to the quarter final lineup and it will be an uphill task for the Rajans. Rajans won three matches in their group, that of S.Benedict’s College, Lumbini College and Maliyadeva College. They lost 4-0 against St.Peter’s and 6-1 against S.Thomas’.
Muthulingam Kilaxson opened up the account for the Jaffna boys with an easy goal inside the first five minutes. Rajans goalkeeper N.T.De Silva fumbled the ball and allowing Kilaxson to score with ease. St.Henry’s dominated ball possession right throughout the first half.
Rajans found the equalizer five minutes before the break through a well executed counter attack. Gihan Deshapriya, U18 national cap found the back of the net with an exquisite finish giving Rajans the perfect ending to the first half. They went into the break with momentum on their side after been dominated in the first half.
12 minutes into the second half St.Henry’s took back the lead thanks to another fumble by the Rajans goalkeeper. Antony Ramesh with the cross straight to the keepers hands but he fumbled giving the chance to Gnaneswaran Antonyraj who put the ball into the goal.
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St.Henry’s grabbed the game by its neck with their third goal in the 73rd minute. It took everyone by surprise when John Patrick took a long range shot from way outside the penalty box, with the Rajans goalkeeper misreading the trajectory and the ball going over him to just creep under the crossbar.
Few minutes before the final whistle the boys from Jaffna scored the 4th goal. Gnansweran Antonyraj scored his second goal of the match, going past the defense line and sliding the ball through to the far corner to give his team a massive 4-1 victory and a spot in the semi Final.
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“Not like in Jaffna where the ground is hard, here it is very soft and the players took some time to settle in the first half and that’s why we didn’t play to our potential. We need to prepare more for the semifinal,” the jubilant St.Henry’s College coach M.D.Wijeyakumar added.
“We played well in the first half but our goalkeeper made a few mistakes which cost us the match. We lacked fitness in the second half against St.Henry’s,” Dharamaraja College Coach Tharindu Liyanage added.
