Faulkland celebrate after winning inaugural JFF Tier Two league
DRAX HALL, St Ann – Faulkland FC of St James are celebrating after ending the first season of the Jamaica Football Federation Tier Two competition on a high, beating Chapleton Maroons of Clarendon 3-0 in the final played at Drax Hall Sports Complex in St Ann on Sunday.
Tavane Kerr in the first half and Ronaldo McLeish and substitute Rodcliff Dawkins in the second half scored for the Gregory Palmer-coached team as they beat the Clarendon-based team coached by Lenny Hyde, for the second time in the season.
Both Faulkland FC and Chapleton Maroons had earlier secured promotion to the Jamaica Premier League after winning their respective semi-finals against Falmouth United and Treasure Beach FC.
With qualification out of the way and not much riding on the result on Sunday, the game was expected to be a free-flowing one and lived up to the expectation, but the scoreline could have been a surprise.
Faulkland FC had edged Chapleton Maroons 3-2 when they met in the regular season on their way to topping the points tables with 26 points, three more than the beaten Clarendon team.
On Sunday, Kerr gave the St James-based team an early lead when he beat goalkeeper Romeo Daniels with a half-volley from the edge of the 18-yard box, high into the goal.
The move started on the left side by Giovanni Clarke who passed to Tyshan Hill who took the ball to the touchline before passing it back into the path of Kerr.
Faulkland FC doubled the lead in the 48th minute when McLeish, who had missed the previous game with a red card, beat Daniels at his near left post with a vicious drive.
A ball was lofted over two defenders to McLeish who was just inside Chapleton 18-yard box and he had time to pick his spot and beat the goalkeeper.
Chapleton Maroons had a big opportunity to get back in the game when they were awarded a penalty kick in the 58th minute after one of their players was bungled off the ball just inside the area.
Kaheim Dixon, who had scored 14 goals leading up to the final and who had scored a double in the return-leg semi-finals, saw his weak kick saved by the Faulkland FC’s goalkeeper Gareth Dennis, going low to his right.
Minutes earlier, Dennis had blocked Dixon after the striker had managed to get by the Faulkland FC defense but found the portly goalkeeper in his way.
Dawkins, who came off the bench in the second half, sealed the win for Faulkland FC in the 82nd minute, when he snapped up a loose ball in the Chapleton area and fired it back past Da