James Murphy
SENIOR MEN – INTERNATIONAL 2 d GAMBIER CENTRALS 1
THE 2024 Limestone Coast Premier League senior men’s grand final came down to the dying minutes and at the end of it all International claimed back-to-back titles.
The boys in black and blue defeated Gambier Centrals in a thrilling battle, fought out in trying conditions as wind and rain made the going tough.
Centrals started the game with the wind at its back, but the Inter defence did well to deny too many advantages from the conditions.
Eventually Bradley White found a way through and scored at the 29-minute mark to give the Lions the lead.
That was the only goal of the half, with the only other real opportunity a header shot from Inter’s Matt Bueti which hit the crossbar.
The opening minutes of the second half were action packed to say the least.
Spending the first term manning the defensive trenches, Inter’s Dan Allwright was moved forward in the second as the side looked to go on the attack with the wind at its back.
That proved a fruitful decision and in the opening minute of the half a penalty was awarded to Allwright, consequently sending Centrals’ defender Ronan McKenzie to the bench with the first red card of the match.
Matt Bueti fronted up to take the penalty kick and put it through to level the scores with a full half still to play.
From there Inter went on the attack, but it was unable to find an easy avenue to goal.
The Lions’ defence was impressive all day and held fast during the excitement which followed the equaliser.
From there an intense arm wrestle unfolded and a long 39 minutes passed before there was another goal.
Before then, a second yellow card to Matthew Porter resulted in a second Lions defender being ejected from the game.
Now down to nine men, Centrals put its all into maintaining defensive pressure with its limited troops.
Alexander Obedi was spectacular during this period, while the whole team pushed back to rely on rebounding the ball back up the field to generate attacking plays.
However, Inter finally found its chance when Bueti received a pinpoint pass from Caleb Casey to header the ball past Centrals keeper Alex Hill and score the match winner.
With only four minutes of regulation time remaining, the pressure was on.
To Centrals’ credit it managed to create a couple of chances but they did not fall its way and at the final whistle Inter was crowned champion.
International coach Tony D’Agostino is no stranger to winning premierships, but speaking to The Border Watch this week he said Sunday’s grand final was one he would not forget any time soon.
“It was a hard game,” he said.
“These are the ones you probably remember the longest – the ones you really fought hard to the last minute.”
The title is D’Agostino’s 15th from 16 grand final appearances as coach, marking a major milestone for the mentor in what has been an impressive career.
D’Agostino said the weather had been a focus in the week leading up to the decider.
Being played at Casadio Park, Inter had the benefit of playing on its home ground.
“We were lucky a bit with the wind being strong from Thursday onwards,” D’Agostino said.
“We knew which way the wind was blowing and how it affected one side.
“We didn’t know if the wind was going to stay like that up until Sunday, but just in case we had a game plan in place.”
That is where Allwright came in, with the plan to play him defensively against the wind and offensively with the wind at Inter’s back.
“Our plan was to play really tight defensively in the first half,” D’Agostino said.
“At half time we made the move to shift Dan Allwright up front.
“The minute we walked on the field we attacked down with him and he created the one chance that got us the penalty and a player sent off.
“That was probably a turning point in the game and it turned out to be a good move on our behalf.”
D’Agostino credited Centrals’ efforts after going a man down.
“Centrals defended well,” he said.
“It took us a long time to get that second goal.
“Centrals did play well and held out even when they were down to nine (players).”
At the end of the match, Allwright was awarded the best-on-ground award by the referees.
“He did the job for us in the backline when we needed him to in the first half,” D’Agostino said.
“He played a really disciplined game and did the team thing.
“Then when he went forward, he did what we know he can do and influenced the game going forward.”
However, grand finals are not won with one player and there were a couple others D’Agostino believed were in the running for best player.
“One player I would like to mention is Caleb Casey,” he said.
“He put a beautiful ball through to Dan to run onto to create that chance that then developed into a penalty.
“Then the ball that we scored the winning goal off, he placed it on Matt Bueti’s head – he didn’t even have to move, just time his run perfectly.”
Bueti was also a worthy contender for the award, with his two goals sealing the win.
D’Agostino thanked all involved in making 2024 such a successful year for the club, including assistant coaches Tony Bueti and Joe D’Agostino, trainer Linda McRobert and team manager Dino Michielan.
