PANAJI
Dempo played a more compact game with free-flowing passing and build-ups that had the rivals on the back foot. They settled into a rhythm and moved into the driver's seat soon after the kick-off, refusing to let Rosary to settle into their groove. That seemed to upset their rhythm which Dempo took advantage of and sneaked into the lead in the 13th minute.
Boosted by the one-goal advantage, Dempo continued to mount pressure on the rival citadel with attacks from the flanks and down the middle. Seven minutes later, Dion Fernandes got into the act, beating Rosary goalkeeper Ozen Silva in the 20th minute to drive home the advantage as Dempo went into the lemon break with a comfortable 2-0 lead. They resumed their domination on resumption with the defence putting up a stout-hearted performance.
Rosary come back into the game with two strikes within a span of three minutes through Joston Fernandes and Aaron D'Silva in the 40th and 43rd minutes respectively. Dempo regrouped after the double blow and once again snatched the lead in the 57th minute through Devendra only to see Rosary bounce back. They staged a grand fight back putting the Dempo defence under tremendous pressure with Aaron D'Silva pulling strings with flair from the middle of the park, harnessing the strikers and his fellow midfielders with fluency.
Just when Dempo scented victory, Clive Miranda threw Rosary a lifeline slipping the ball into the net in the 79th minute to take the game into the tie-breaker.
Dempo's players held their nerves in the tie-breaker and scored through Salu Santos, Aaron D'Silva, Latish Kunkolikar ,Devendra and Chetan Vernekar while Rosary got their goals through Joven, Lenny Fernandes, Sneden Medeira and Clive Costa.
In the girls semi-finals, Rosary Higher Secondary School, Navelim, proved too strong for Our Lady of Rosary Higher Secondary School, Dona Paula, who seemed to match their opponents attack for attack as they fought tooth and nail in the first half. But once the Navelim side struck two more before going into the lemon break for a comfortable 4-2 lead, the writing was on the wall. Rosary HSS set up a title clash with Regina Martyrum High School, who downed St Xavier's Higher Secondary School 4-3 via tie-breaker in the other semi-final.
