Dennery will take on Canaries Sunday in the finals of the St. Lucia Football Association Inc. [SLFA] Premier Cup—in a challenge dubbed the East/West island coast derby.
Last Sunday’s semifinal playoffs at the Dennery Playing Field saw Canaries getting past Vieux Fort South in a penalty shoot-out; while Dennery beat Gros Islet in a tight game.
In the first match, Canaries created a ‘major upset’ in local football circles after holding VF South to a 1-all draw and then outscored their southern rivals 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out.
Noah Nicholas shot the Southerners into the lead in the 44th minute via the penalty spot to give his team a cushion at the end of the first half.
Following the resumption, both teams sought the upper hand and it was Canaries who looked more threatening as they came close to scoring on several occasions. Their determination and efforts were rewarded as Donovan Jn. Baptiste slotted in the equalizer from the penalty spot in the 89th minute. In the second match and with support from a vociferous home crowd, Dennery pulled out all the stops to defeat Gros Islet 1 – 0.
Javel Faucher netted in the 55th minute to assure Dennery a spot in the finals.
Interestingly, Sports Minister and MP for Gros Islet Kenson Casimir and former sports minister and MP for Dennery South, Edmund Estaphane were present to witness these ‘epic matches’.
Meanwhile, in the SLFA Inc. President Cup last Saturday at the DPF, Shamballa Shiloh, outplayed Flames 5 – 1, after enjoying a 4 – 0 cushion at halftime.
They got their goals from Shayan Lionel with a hat trick in the 19th, 27th, and 89th min. Jahlim Flavier 24th, and Delano Barbour in the 47th min.
Ammed Chandler scored for Flames in the 57th minute.
In another game, Aux Lyon edged out Black Eagles 2 – 1, after the scores were locked 1 – 1 at halftime.
Their goal scorers were Devonte Clifford and Nick Henville in the 35th and 88th minute respectively.
Scoring for Black Eagles was Migel Cox in the 31st minute.
Last Saturday also saw football action at the Saab Playing Field in the Castries Football Council (CFC) league.
FC Pioneers beat Valley Soccer 1-nil, with a wonderful strike from the top of the box from Shayid St. Marthe with fifteen minutes to play.
After suffering their second consecutive defeat, Valley Soccer remain in fourth place; while Pioneers registered their first win of the season to increase their tally to four (4) points.
The following day (Sunday), Nyah and VSADC, two of the more experienced teams in the league, played to a 1-1 draw in a highly intense and aggressive encounter.
This resulted in Tard Modeste being shown a red card for two bookable offenses.
Nyah took the lead from the penalty spot through O’Neil Alexander, his second from the spot in this campaign, and held that lead by the interval, despite playing with a 10-man squad.
VSADC appeared to have capitalized on this to pile on the pressure, resulting in a second-half subShaquille Degazon header from a curling cross finding the boot of Simeon Francis to tuck away the equalizer.
VSADC remains at the top of the table with seven points. Nyah on five points is in second place.
Where are the finals?