Will Trinity spoil the Thora hat-trick?

Trinity College takes on S. Thomas’ College in their bid to win back the coveted shield in the 7th Annual Football Encounter to be worked off at 3.30pm this Friday (14th Oct) at the CR & FC Grounds.

The teams go into the game after indifferent seasons with very little to separate the two sides in terms of quality.

S. Thomas’ College are the current holders of the shield after retaining it last year following their maiden win in 2014. Trinity College, meanwhile, will be all out to win back the trophy they held for 4 years.

Season thus far

Both the Thomians and the Trinitians have had mixed results over the course of the season with neither team being able to dominate their opponents.

S. Thomas’ College emerged winners of their Divisional tournament but lost out in the Zonals at the semi-final stage of the Cup segment.

The side from the School by the Sea failed in their bid to qualify the knockout stages of the Kotmale U19 Schools’ Football Championship as their positive results against Lumbini College, Sri Pada College (6-1), Wesley College (1-1) & Dharmaraja College (1-1) were overshadowed by the defeats against Zahira College (7-0) and St. Joseph Vaz College (2-0), which consigned them to third place in Group B.

The Lions also failed in their pursuit of qualification to the second round despite their wins against Ananda College (9-2) and Maliyadeva College (2-1) as they were held by Rahula College (2-2) and Royal College (1-1).

The heavy defeats by Hameed Al Husseine (9-2) and St. Henry’s College (2-0) put their hopes of reaching the next round to bed.

The hill country side did however; manage to become Runners-Up in the Provincial Championship while getting placed 4th in the 12th Zahira Super 16 Soccer 7’s a few days earlier.

Catch the Live action – S.Thomas’ College v Trinity College (7th Annual Football Encounter)

Key Players

The game is bound to be won and lost in the middle of the park this year, as both sides will look to dominate the midfield in search of the win.

For the visitors, the likes of Ravishke Herath, Nuwan Jayalath & skipper Dinura Ediriweera will be key in controlling the game. The trio have a very good understanding and stopping them will be critical to the Thomians stopping Trinity.

On the other side the pressure will fall on Thomian skipper Dion Dias with their midfield bound to have been weakened by the Sri Lanka U19 Akhil Fernando’s departure. He will be ably assisted by the rock at the center of the Thomian backline, Seshan Mathangaweera.

Fresh Faces

Both teams are experiencing an influx of new blood after the departure of a number of seniors.

Trinity will miss the likes of Wasath Kodituwakku, Tarindu Pitawala and the dynamic Geshan Pethiyagoda; all of whom had tremendous amounts of experience.
The Thomians meanwhile, will be fielding a young front line comprising the 15 year old duo of Shannon Ebeneezer and Senal De Alwis, who will have the burden of replacing last year’s partnership of Yohan Mendis & Deshan Gonawela.

Thoughts from the camps

The Thomians have lost thirteen of their squad from last year, opening up space for some new blood to enter the fray.

Skipper Dias said;

“I don’t think losing players will have a very big impact because we lose players every year. The team has been preparing very hard and I’m sure the likes of Shannon Ebeneezer and Senal De Alwis, both 15, will step up and play well.”

S.Thomas’ College Squad

Dion Dias (c) – Seshan Mathangaweera – Evan De Silva – Tharik Jawahir – Tharindu Jayasekara – Sasika Jayasuriya – Jiovani Kanagasundaram – Jony Selvakumar – Malik Azeez – R. Vengadesh – Shannon Ebeneezer – Arshad Hameem – Marikkar – Jaythaka De Silva – Afkar Laffar – Dirk Jansen – Senal De Alwis – Shevaan Ebeneezer – Dinil Gonawela

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Junior National and Trinity skipper Dinura Ediriweera said;

“We lost seven players from last year but most of the guys have been playing first XI for a while now so the impact will be minimal. This is a very important fixture for us and we have been looking forward to it and working very hard to bring the shield back home.”

Trinity College Squad

Dinura Ediriweera (c) – Darshana Jayasinghe – Ravishke Herath – Rajitha Jayasinghe – Nuwan Jayalath – Anuka Boyagoda – Malaka Samarasinghe – Shemal Wijewardena – Taike Liyanage – Gaurawa Senevirathne – Naveen Herath – Mohammed Aathif – Udayantha Giragama – Mahoga Dewundaraarachchi – Sheron Thalukshan – Nadarajah Divyan