SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Lennon High qualified for their first ever ISSA/FLOW Ben Francis Cup knockout final after beating a tired-looking Cornwall College 1-0 in their semi-final game played at the St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) Sports Complex yesterday.

Fitzroy Cummings’ second- half penalty conversion was the difference between the teams that slugged it out in front of a decent crowd of mostly Cornwall College supporters who had hoped their team would be able to bounce back from their loss in the FLOW Super Cup final three days ago.

Lennon High, who are in their second final at this level after making it to the daCosta Cup final in 2010, will face six-time defending champions STETHS in the final set for Friday at Manchester High.

It was the sixth straight game that the dark horse team was scoring a single goal and they have won the last four.

For Cornwall College it was a nightmare game after they ended a 19-game unbeaten run on Saturday and were held scoreless for the second straight game, three days apart.

The game lacked the firework or excitement of Monday’s first semi-final that went to sudden-death penalties before STETHS won 4-3 after the team had played out a 2-2 regulation time score and 3-3 after extra time.

Lennon High’s coach Merron Gordon was beside himself with joy following the final whistle and said his team was “tactically almost perfect, they followed instructions to a T and the only thing we have left to do now is to win a title”.

Gordon said their tactics to prevent the Cornwall College national Under-20 duo of Jourdaine Fletcher and Peter-Lee Vassell from beating them worked as well as they expected.

A week ago, Cornwall College’s Dr Dean Weatherly was eying four titles, but after yesterday’s game he admitted that travelling to Kingston for back-to-back games in the Super Cup while playing mid-week games had taken its toll on his players.

“The travelling has gotten the better of us finally,” he said. “The players were lethargic today and were not moving as fluid as we usually do and we just had to try to get the best out of them.”

He said the team was “too laid back today, we were not attacking the ball in the 18-yard box and lacked the killer instinct we have become known for this season”.

He was still confident that they would be able to salvage something from the season as they had a week to rest for the semi-finals against Clarendon College, who had lost three games in a row.

Yesterday, the well-rested Lennon were the more aggressive and should have been 2-0 up in the first 19 minutes but for poor finishing in front of an empty goal.

They had bites of the cherry in only the second minute as Cornwall took a while to settle, but Kwesi Watts missed from two feet on the left and the ball went to the right where another teammate missed again.

In the 19th minute, Cornwall College’s goalkeeper Jamario Hines dropped a high ball, but Ryan Morrison unbelievably shot wide from about three yards with only the goal in-front of him.

Cornwall College gradually got back into the game and had their chances at goal, but with Fletcher and Vassell both having off days, the other players failed to take up the reins and take the chances that they were offered.

Lennon High took the lead in the 61st minute when Watts was tripped just inside the area, but Hines saved Cummings’ initial shot only for the big Lennon High defender to react first and sweep the ball home before any Cornwall defender could clear their lines.

Cornwall had their best chance to level the score in the 76th minute, but goalkeeper Tyrone Mullings pulled off a brilliant save, pushing a header from Michael Heaven for a corner.