Denbigh too strong for May Day
MAY PEN, Clarendon — At minutes past eleven yesterday morning, coaches Christine Bartley and Janice Walker were all smiles. And they deserved it.
About 40 minutes earlier, their faces offered no such pleasantries. They were locked in a fierce battle with May Day High in their ISSA/Digicel Rural Area Junior League quarter-final.
And although the final score will say Denbigh won by 10 points, it wasn’t really that easy for them in this match. It was the kind of game that just never offered the supporters — much less the coaches — a chance to relax.
One minute, it was May Day who looked the superior team, setting the pace with some early goals. Then, it was Denbigh who edged ahead, before their opponents came roaring back.
In the end, however, Denbigh’s smaller players proved fitter and more technically astute than their May Day counterparts — winning 27-17 after taking control of the contest in the third quarter.
It was much easier, though, for their seniors against STETHS, who really failed to show for what was expected to be a keen quarter-final tie, but instead ended 54-24.
“They knew they had to win today,” Bartley said of her juniors. “The defeat to Knox on Tuesday showed us some areas where we needed to improve on.”
The Clarendon-based Denbigh will now face giant killers Herbert Morrison in the U-16 semi-final and the ominous Titchfield in the U-19s.
