- Corinaldi lift Insports title
Noelita Lawrence-Ricketts
Corinaldi hoisted two football trophies on Friday just 45 minutes apart, including the coveted Insports under-12, which they nailed at the Mount Salem Community Field.
Clad in their familiar navy blue and pink jersey, Corinaldi grabbed hold of the crown in a nail-biting 3-2 defeat of neighbours and bitter rivals, Barracks Road, in the exhilarating finale watched by a raucous and vocal crowd.
The Ricardo Esmie-coached unit, last year’s beaten finalists, had a double strike from the speedy Ajani Campbell.
Campbell scored in the 41st and 59th minutes after Kemar Richards had opened the scoring after 11 minutes.
Barracks Road made the contest an entertaining one, twice levelling the scores through Ronaldeno Richards and Kevin Hawthorne, the first of which came from the penalty spot.
After an intense opening by both sides, Corinaldi took the lead through Richards, whose rifled effort from outside the area whistled by two defenders before crashing into the corner of the net.
Barracks Road, dominating the middle of the park, leveled the scores just before the half when Hawthorne rifled home from the penalty spot.
The kick from 12 yards out was awarded by official Mary Lawrence on the stroke of the halftime interval for a handled ball in the area.
At the resumption, both teams traded attacks, with Barracks Road striking the crossbar with deadly force.
However, Corinaldi struck with venom in the 41st minute when Campbell arrived unchallenged at the back post to tap in a well-floated free kick which fell from the grasp of the suspect goalkeeper between the sticks for the Barracks Road unit.
Barracks Road searched for a second equalizer and it came midway the half as Richards’ homebound effort was hugely deflected into the corner of the net to make the score 2-2.
Again, Corinaldi rallied and the hardworking Campbell then made the victory certain for them when he latched onto an exquisite 20-yard pass from female player Kristal Williams, off the wing, to turn the ball into the net to sheer delight from his peers and spectators out in their numbers.
Their nemesis, Barracks Road, with a never-say-die attitude, got one final chance to level the scores for a third time, but the effort from inside the box was charged down by the weary but stubborn Corinaldi defense.
The new St. James champions walked away with $60,000, medals and trophy, and will now be the parish’s representative in the All-Island section.
Barracks Road, for their efforts, bagged $35,000.
Chetwood, meanwhile, finished third after Granville failed to show for their contest, collecting $25,000.
Corinaldi had just hours before, with at least three of the same players, won an Under-10 crown at another competition, before travelling just metres across the parish for the Insports showdown with their rivals.
CORDINATOR EXCITED
Fabian Kelvin, the new Insports coordinator in St. James was delighted with the day’s outcome. “I’m so delighted with how the day’s event went on,” he told the Western Mirror. “It was my first on the job and I’m happy I was able to pull off such a smooth flowing one,” he said. “The game was a great spectacle for the city, the fans were great and it was just an awesome time out.”
“Both Barracks Road and the champions Corinaldi gave us a really, really great game, entertaining, of a high quality and thoroughly competitive… any of the two could have won,” he further added. “What a game it was!”