The Men’s National Water polo final was worked off between traditional rivals S. Thomas’ and Royal today at the Sugathadasa Pool and it certainly lived up to expectations producing some quality water polo.
The Royalist’s were the ultimate winners of the game recording a narrow 9-8 win. The lads from Reid Avenue were the dominant team during the middle parts of the game with the first quarter ending in a tie, however the Thomians come back in the final quarter with 4 goals and nearly won them the game but Royal held their fort to record a triple victory for 2012.
Royal College claimed the rights to the All Island tournament earlier in the year and then went on to stamp their dominance in the traditional clash for the Dr. R. L Hayman encounter.
The Royalist’s made their intentions clear early on with a clean shot from their prop Dharshana Deragoda. After the first goal Royal looked to put more pressure but was unable to put it past the goal keeper.
The Thomians needed some inspiration to kick off their final and this came from the dependable Thomian skipper Senitha Gunawardene who pierced the Royal defense to score and equalize; scoreboard reading 1- all.
With this goal the Thomians went on the attack once more and this time managed to beat the defense when Aqeel Sourjah scored the 2nd goal for the school by the sea.
It was a tight battle from the start, as expected in any Royal- Thomian encounter and the Royalist managed to equalize through Dharshana Deragoda who scored his second of the final. At the end of the first quarter the scores were tied 2 all and showed early signs of another epic final.
The 2nd quarter saw both teams trying to get on the scoreboard but the heavy defense prevented them from scoring. The Thomians managed to break the shackles however after some promising play which ended with Deelaka Weeraratne scoring. S. Thomas’ with this goal stepped on the accelerator and managed to score their 4th goal which came from Deputy Skipper Devshan De Mel who had been having an outstanding tournament.
The Royalist’s put in a string of effective attacking moves during the next phases of play which gave Rifat Uwais the scoring opportunity which he obliged, to make it 4-3. Uwais then shot his second goal of the match to equalize 4 all. The Royalist’s were upping the ante at this point and were looking solid in their offense creating a number of extra- man situations.
The Uwais brothers were in full flight and this time Uwais senior Musharaf scored to take Royal in front 5-4 at the end of the second quarter. It was some brilliant interchange of passes between Akila Weerasinghe, Musharaf and Shan Lakshitha which created the goal which put the Royalist’s in front.
The 3rd quarter started off slowly but gathered momentum with every phase. Royal managed to score and increase the lead through their skipper Shan Lakshitha to take their tally up to 6 goals as against to 4 from the Thomians. The blue-black and blues at this time just could not get it past the Royal defenders who marked the Thomian playmakers with absolute precision.
The Uwais onslaught continued as Musharaf Uwais went on to score his second of the game and 7th overall. The Royalist’s then put the pedal to the metal and went on the offense once more which resulted in their skipper Shan Lakshitha scoring his second of the game. The Thomians had a number of scoring opportunities but could not execute their strategies effectively due to the strict defense implied by the Royalist’s.
The final quarter started off with the Thomians scoring their first goal in 2 quarters after a goal-less 3rd quarter. The goal scorer Dineth Francis took a gamble from long range which paid off for his team (5-7).
This goal sparked a Thomian comeback with Deelaka Weeraratne scoring his 2nd of the game with a powerful shot (6-7). The Royalist’s however extended the lead through a shot by an Akila Weerasinghe goal.
The Thomians stuck to their guns and made amends scoring two consecutive goals through Dineth Francis who scored his third of the game. Francis who kept on persisting with his attack managed to break the Royal defensive wall to score two in quick session to give some hope to his team.
It has to be said that the refereeing was not the best during the men’s final from both officials present as there were many wrong decisions made to the surprise of many. There was much bewilderment towards the end of the game which cost’s both side scoring opportunities.
Royal held on to the single point lead (9-8) at the end of the long whistle to mark another fantastic year for Royal College water polo, thus claiming the triple crown for 2012.
