BUFF BAY, Portland — St George’s Sports Club successfully retained the Portland FA Western Union Major League title when they defeated Buff Bay United 2-0 in Saturday’s final at Lynch Park here.

Goalscorers were Kemar Miller (37th minute) and Demar Easington (80th).

St George’s made their intentions known early but were denied by the left upright from a Miller effort after a neat combination involving Girvan Brown and Marvin Clarke.

Buff Bay’s attacking response came from Jason Tracey, Delon White, Oscean Kinlock, Milton Morgan and Shevon Bailey, but they all found custodian Randal Huie and his rear guard of Bobby-Joe Huie, Dwayne Holmes and Andre Thomas hard to break down.

St George’s found the go-ahead goal when Daniel Shaw picked up a ball in midfield and passed to Brown, who played the ball to the dangerous Miller, who beat Buff Bay goalkeeper Sheldon Howell to his right.

Buff Bay immediately tried to get back into the game as they stormed forward from midfield through Delon White, Oscean Kinlock, Jason Tracey and Ackeem Irving, but were kept out by Daniel Shaw and Dainian Reid.

On the resumption and though having the lead, the Georgians were kept quiet by St George’s, but when the latter had possession they always looked the more dangerous of the two.

And it came as no real surprise when the former Premier League campaigners went further ahead. The goal that made the game safe resulted from a two-man combination of substitute Demar Easington and Brown, ending with the former scoring after gliding by a couple of defenders.

For the victory, St George’s pocketed $110,000 and the Western Union Trophy, while Buff Bay made off with $70,000. Both clubs will play in the Eastern Confederation’s Super Eight play-offs set to start on Wednesday.

St George’s player Damion White said “our team is full of quality and we are looking forward to getting back to the top flight soon”.

Losing coach Barrington Hill was pleased with his team’s performance and noted “we have met our aim and objective”.

Regional manager, Western Union Owen Bruce was pleased with the tournament overall. “We are dedicated to the development of sports in Jamaica and in Portland and we are delighted to be involved. It has been positive and we look forward to continuing the sponsorship in the future,” he said.