Jaffna won the final of Inter League Korea-Sri Lanka Friendship Junior U19 football tournament defeating Kandy Football League 4-2 in Jaffna.
Jaffna Football League battled it out with the visiting Kandy FL and there were thousands of supporters who enjoyed the hard fought thriller by both teams. Although Jaffna FL won the game 4 goals to 2,at the end, it was Kandy FL who scored at the first half with 2 goals to 0. S. Visvajith drew the first blood for Kandy with a superb goal in the 27th minute and just at the added time before the break at 47th minute M.R Bandara scored the 2nd for Kandy to have a lead of 2-0 at lemons.
Soon after the break, Jaffna started attacking in an aggressive manner and R.Ramson made no mistake in the 61st minute finding the net for Jaffna making 1-2 narrowing the gap. In the 62nd minute Kandy were reduced to 10 men when the Referee D.I.Sendanayaka had no hesitation in showing the red card and sent off Kandy defender R.M. Dishantha for violent conduct and that was a turning point of the game.
Jaffna boys kept on the pressure and just in 10 minutes U.Subothoran scored a solo to make it 2-2 at the 71st minute of the game to keep the Jaffna fans alive. The game became wide open and Jaffna FL scored again through U.Subotharan who scored his second at 85th minute to make it 3-2 in favour of Jaffna FL and in the extra time of 92nd minute R.Ramson scored his double to seal the victory for Jaffna FL.
Both teams played well and the winners were awarded Korea-Sri Lanka Friendship Cup and Rs. 100,000 and the runner up 50,000 in cash and medals.
Quarter Final Results
Jaffna v Kinniya – 5 – 1 (Home) 7 – 1 (Away)
Kurunegala v Negombo – 1 – 2 (Home) 3 – 0 W/O (Away)
Badulla v Kandy – 2 – 2 (Home) 0 – 2 (Away)
SL School v City – 2 – 1 (Home) 3 – 5 (Away)
Semi-Finals (Home & Away)
Jaffna v Negombo – 4 – 2 (Home) 2 – 0
Kandy v City – 4 – 0 (Home) 4 – 0 (Away)
Photo Credits: Football Federation of Sri Lanka
