It was semi-final weekend for the Broken Hill Soccer Association (BHSA) at O’Neill Memorial Park on Saturday. The sun was shining as the B Grade, along with the Men’s and Women’s A Grade played off their Grand Final deciders.
B GRADE
The Mighty Goats of Alma fell to St Joes in the B Grade semi-final, conceding a goal in the second half in their clash to go down 1-0. St Joes and West will now play off for the B Grade premiership in the curtain raiser this weekend.
St Joes 1
Alma 0
WOMEN’S A GRADE
St Joes also had the opportunity to book a clean sweep of Grand Finals too following that result and took the opportunity with both hands in the Women’s A Grade semi-final, casting aside pre-match favourites Alma with ease in a comfortable 3-0 result.
Dino Callegher’s side dealt with the transition to the main pitch the best and never really looked troubled by an Alma side that looked so promising at times throughout the season.
15-year-old Ava Turley was the matchwinner for Joeys. Turley was a menace to the Alma defence and had a hand in all three goals in a player of the match performance.
“[Alma] changed their formation in the second half and went from four at the back to three and that gave Ava a bit more space to move around the pitch than she had in the first half,” St Joes’ Jodie Callegher told the Truth.
St Joes’ victory will see them take on the might of the West Panthers in the Women’s A Grade premiership decider this weekend.
The result also ensured St Joes complete a remarkable achievement, with a team in every Grand Final from under 12’s all the way through to A Grade.
St Joes 3 (van der Merwe, Turley, Wood)
Alma 0
MEN’S A GRADE
In the late kick off, Alma took on Celtic for a place in the Men’s A Grade Final.
It was a clash of two styles as the Goats’ possession-based game came up against the direct style of play favoured by Aaron Cunico’s Celtic side.
The first half was an evenly matched contest. Alma got lucky with a freakish own goal and the score sat at 1-0 when the half time whistle blew.
Early in the second half Celtic received a penalty and comfortably slotted it home to level the score at 1-1.
Alma’s experience and quality shone through, however, and they pulled away in dominant fashion, scoring the next four goals to book a rematch of the 2022 BHSA A Grade Grand Final against St Joes.
“It was a pretty even game to start with,” Alma coach Will Hebbard told the Truth.
“The game changed after Ethan Hocking scored a goal from the top of the 18 [yard box]. After that we piled on the pressure and Julian Anton, the King as we call him, helped himself to a hattrick to finish the game off.
“It was special from Julian, he put on a football clinic.”
Alma 5 (own goal, Hocking, Anton 3)
Celtic 1 (Cattonar 1)
With the semi-final results in the bag, the Grand Final matchups begin at 12pm at O’Neill Memorial Park this Saturday with West and St Joes battling it out for the B Grade premiership. The two sides face off again in the Women’s A Grade championship decider at 2pm, before we find out who lifts the trophy in the Men’s A Grade competition between Alma and St Joes at 4pm.
