FORMER champions Mona and Clan Carthy will contest the 2010 INSPORTS Kingston and St Andrew Primary Netball League final after winning their respective semi-finals at the Leila Robinson Courts yesterday.

Mona defeated defending champions St Patrick’s, 13-10, while Clan Carthy got the better of August Town, 15-12.

The winners will face off tomorrow at 1:00 pm, while the losers square off for third and fourth positions, respectively.

Interestingly, both Mona and Clan Carthy competed in Zone 3 of the preliminary rounds. Mona beat Clan Carthy, 13-12, to emerge group winners ahead of Clan Carthy.

Mona’s coach Kema Gentles said: “Despite beating Clan Carthy in the preliminary round, it’s a different game and our approach will be different.

“We’ll be taking this game as a final and the key… is to have a strong defence line. I’m still concentrating on shooting, but the defence is the real section of the game,” Gentles added.

He said Clan Carthy are playing well and apart from last year, for the three previous years, it has been a Mona-Clan Carthy final.

According to Clan Carthy’s Dwayne Walker, it was surprising that August Town matched them throughout the game.

“We were ready for them as their fitness level was a bit suspect,” he said.

“The final against Mona promises to be a very exciting one as we know them and they know us. We’ll be correcting the areas that are weak and be ready for the final on Friday,” Walker said.

Mona were the first to score before St Patrick’s levelled at 1-1. From then onwards, the first half was a ding-dong tussle, with the scores level at 4-4 before Mona moved ahead 6-5 at half-time.

St Patrick’s at the start of the second half tied the scores at 6-6, and then went up 8-6 before Mona played themselves back in contention with two goals to level once more at 8-8. Mona and St Patrick’s were tied again at 10-10.

In the final three minutes, St Patrick’s began wasting their turnovers, thus allowing the Mona defence to intercept passes before shooters Abbigale Malcolm and Torian Whyte combined to score three additional goals to give their team a 13-10 win and a place in the final.

It was another close game between Clan Carthy and August Town, with the scores even at 4-4 in the first half. Clan Carthy did well to secure a slim 8-7 lead at the interval.

August Town immediately tied the scores at 8-8 at the start of the second period, as they traded goals for another 11-11 tie.

With three minutes remaining, Clan Carthy took the lead, while August Town wasted a few attacking turnovers.

Clan Carthy capitalised with some fast passes and in the process, increased their score and moved away to clinch the decisive spot.