Gros Islet Youth will face defending champions Northern United next weekend in the final of the Kenson Casimir Bay Bay Cup football tournament. The young Lions came through a penalty-kick thriller against Monchy United, whilst Northern downed New Generation on Sunday night, February 15, at the Francis Baba Lastic Grounds in Gros Islet.
The semifinal tilt between Monchy and the youth side was a rollercoaster ride. The youngsters, many from Northern United and GMC United, had won two of their three group matches, while Monchy had a 100% record to top their group.
From the opening whistle, both teams were firing away, with Monchy spraying wide on at least three occasions, and testing the keeper just once or twice. But it was Mekhi Stanislaus who first found the back of the net for the representative junior team, immediately followed by Samiel Louisien, before Monchy even had time to catch their breath.
Coming out of the interval, Monchy’s woes were compounded by two injuries, the first of which necessitated a substitution. But it didn’t take them long to get back into the game, the talismanic Troy “Eto” Greenidge hitting home to halve the deficit.
Monchy found the back of the net again, but were adjudged to be offside. But then came the big moment, when the youth team was reduced to 10 men. In the 67th minute, their goalkeeper was sent off for violent conduct, and the youngsters went into a shell. Four minutes later, up popped Greenidge again to bring his side back on terms.
The deadlock persisted until the final whistle, leading to a penalty shootout. Substitute keeper Jerquan Joseph barely moved for the first two Monchy penalties, and it was 3-3 after three rounds.
Joseph, a defender for the national Under-20 team, stonewalled the fourth penalty, from Monchy’s Raphael Joseph, diving low and to his left. Even more impressively, the Saint Lucia Sports Academy student, still with his gloves on, stepped up to take the fifth and final kick himself, sealing the 5-4 result and advancement to the title match.
“When my goalkeeper got the red card, I was kind of disappointed, but my team had hope in me for me to go in the goal, so I took the opportunity,” said Joseph. Speaking of the penalty shootout, he admitted to some brief uncertainty, but he says he brushed that off quickly.
“To be honest, I was a little bit nervous, but for my team to go through, I had to pull through and make it happen for them. I just had to choose a side, good thing I went to the right side, and I saved it. For mine, I always have one side going, so that was it.”
In the opening game, the title holders got a marker in time added on from Kerdim Agdomar to defeat New Generation1-0. NGFC, a guest team, had topped their group in the preliminaries, whilst Northern had kicked off their campaign losing to Monchy.
The final, which will be played on Sunday evening at the FBLG in Gros Islet, will be interesting, given that several members of the youth team are active players for Northern United. Monchy will play New Generation for third place.
