Duncans win first Trelawny Major League title
...face Granville in JFF Championship play-off
FLORENCE HALL, Trelawny — Duncans United barely have enough time to celebrate their first-ever Duncans Complex Trelawny Football Association Major League title after beating Jackson Town 2-0 in the final played at the Trelawny Multipurpose stadium on Sunday.
On Wednesday, they will turn their attention to the Jamaica Football Federation’s (JFF) Championships play-offs when they travel to face St James Football Association champions Granville United in a Group D game in Montego Bay.
The final lived up to expectations with two evenly matched teams seeking their first-ever Major League title. Eventually, Duncans United, last season’s beaten finalists, prevailed with two well-taken goals in the last 21 minutes of the game.
Oshane Plummer scored the opener in the 69th minute and Garfield Stewart added the second from a clever free kick in the 75th.
Veteran Coach Cassman Williams was pleased with the performance of his team in the final but knew they have to be ready for the play-offs. “I’m feeling very proud because I think the guys worked hard this season to win their first title,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Williams said they had to deal with a lot of obstacles all season, including players not being able to train consistently because of work commitments. But he added: “The guys stepped up when it mattered and we put in the work and you can see it paying off today.”
Jackson Town were losing in a third final and Coach Gaitan Wayne Campbell was disappointed.
“Overall it was a good game, [though] we did not stick to the plan in the first half, but in the second half we grew into the game and we should have won by at least three goals but that is how football goes,” he told the Observer.
Duncans United were quickest to settle down and created a number of scoring chances but Cayon Eccleston headed wide from the top of the six-yard box in the 15th minute and the Jackson Town goalkeeper Alex Rhoden pulled off a series of acrobatic saves to keep his team in the game.
It was Jackson Town’s turn in the second half to take the game to Duncans United but found it difficult to get by the defence anchored by goalkeeper Tahjay Calvin.
Jackson Town made their first serious error in the 69th minute as a defender misplayed the ball and with goalkeeper Rhoden stranded, Plummer fired into an unprotected goal from an acute angle, the goal coming against the run of play.
With their tails up and Jackson Town forced to chase, Duncans United doubled the lead when Stewart caught them napping and fired in a low free kick from just outside the area into the far right-hand corner of the goal.