Shoalhaven Senior Football – FA Cup Final
Illaroo 2
Shoalhaven Heads Berry 1
ILLAROO has drawn first blood in the Shoalhaven Senior Football Competition winning the FA Cup Final over Shoalhaven Heads Berry 2-1 in an action packed clash at Ison Park, South Nowra.
In front of a huge crowd the clash went down to the last 10 minutes when referee Josh Bradshaw awarded a penalty, which Illaroo converted for a 2-1 win.
Earlier Heads came out firing with their first attempt by Jack Miller deflected only by the fingernails of a fully stretched Illaroo goalie Paul Maiolo.
For the first 15-minutes Heads dominated possession, but were unable to break the Roos’ solid defence.
A sigh of relief could be heard from a vocal Heads crowd in the 30th minute when Illaroo’s Daniel Frew drilled one into the centre of the box, which was fumbled by Heads’ goalie to miss the right corner by just centimetres.
A free kick got the Roos within striking distance, Joey Leedham’s powerful ball into the centre found Chris Stanley, who’s header just went over the cross bar.
With 15 minutes to go quick attacking by Jamie Thomas and confusion among the Heads’ defence resulted in the ball trickling into the left corner of the box to put Illaroo ahead 1-nil, which was the half-time score.
The Sharks were not without opportunity, Jack Miller fired in a shot from 25-metres out to the top left corner of the goals, but was saved by Maiolo.
Illaroo played strongly in the second half; they dominated possession and continually applied pressure on the opposition.
But it was the Sharks who equalised - Brad Page got above the pack to head home a corner and level the scores and we were in for an exciting finish.
With 10 minutes to go Illaroo received a controversial penalty.
After much protest from the Heads players and crowd, Joey Leedham calmly slotted the ball into the top left of the goal to bring his side to a 2-1 lead.
The Sharks missed two chances in the closing minutes of the match, the first from a free kick, which was put well above the cross bar by Scott Komel, the second off a corner where the Sharks failed to apply any real pressure in their attack.
Illaroo coach Scott Goodger was happy with the win, but was mindful of the bigger picture.
“Sure, it was good to win, but it’s not our main mission,” he said.
“Obviously I’m happy and we had a big night of celebrations, but it’s not our main goal.
“That’s the competition championship and we have three weeks left.
“But sure it’s a good win and title to get.
“In the wash up it doesn’t mean much,
Heads had a heap of guys out, we had a few
missing as well.
“I was just happy we go through with no injuries and look forward to the bigger picture.
“We have three weeks left, a bye next week which is three easy points, and then have Manyana away and Basin at home, so it’s a big finish for us.
“Basin also play Heads, maybe they can do us a favour, but the bottom line is if we win our next two games, we win the minor premiership.”
Despite the loss Heads coach Bruno Komel was very happy with his side’s performance.
“It was a 50-50 game, it was pretty even, I thought our guys were fantastic,” he said.
“We had a few guys out, but our guys stuck firm all competition and played some good football.
“Both sides had chances, and probably didn’t take them for whatever reason.
“In the end it came down to a penalty, which was disappointing, but Illaroo got and took it and scored the win.
“I suppose they have drawn first blood, they got the first cup on offer for the year.
“I was impressed with our guys, we had four regular first graders out, but the guys who stepped up did a great job.
“I felt for Steve Ellington in goals, he hasn’t played there for about three years, but had to fill in due to an injury top Adam Arnott, and did a great job.”
In a good allround team performance, Komel said it was hard to single out any particular player.
“I thought they were all great,” he said.
“Considering we had so many out and had a five player bench, which we rotated, it shows our depth this year, which is fantastic.
“Nobody felt like we lost.
“Sure Illaroo have drawn first blood, that’s okay, we’re not too worried about that, come semi-final time anyone can beat anyone – anything can happen on the day, that’s already been proven – we’re looking forward to it.”
Illaroo 2 (Jamie Thomas, Joey Leedham) d Shoalhaven Heads Berry 1 (Brad Page).
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