Qormi 1

Hibernians 3

In front of the season’s biggest attendance at Ta’ Qali, Hibernians won the U*BET FA Trophy for the ninth time in the club’s history after beating Qormi 3-1 in the final.

The Paolites’ triumph was a deserved one and rewarded them for their sheer perseverance and superiority in the first half against Qormi’s defensive set up. It was also sweet satisfaction for caretaker coach Richard Mercieca who kept up Miller’s good work and steered his side to the local game’s second most prestigious honour.

A Clayton Failla penalty after 36 minutes gave Hibernians a merited lead and another goal, through a stunning Jackson Lima strike, just before half time, put them firmly in command.

All Qormi’s hopes were dashed though with a second Lima strike soon after the restart and that definitely put the final outcome beyond doubt.

Qormi were unable to put up the same performance and show the killer instinct as against Valletta in the semi-final. Jorge Pereira and Bello-Osagie were only a pale shadow of the executioners that put the champions to the sword. Yesterday they were starved of service and found it hard to penetrate Hibernians’ watertight defence, as keeper Mario Muscat enjoyed quite an easy afternoon.

Leli Fabri and Guzi Xuereb, two former stalwarts of Qormi and Hibernians respectively, paraded the Trophy onto the pitch and greeted the players before kick-off to the loud roars of both sets of vociferous fans that filled the enclosure and the Millenium stand, providing a most colorful backdrop.

There were no surprises in the teams’ starting line-ups as doubts about the availability of Bello-Osagie and Triston Caruana for Qormi proved unfounded with both making it in the first eleven.

Hibernians, had Clayton Failla and Luis Edison back from suspension, with Adrian Pulis and Steve Pisani making way.

The teams did not change tactically either. Jason Vandelannoite dropped as centre back alongside Rodolfo Soares in a flat back four for Hibernians, with Bjorn Kristensen providing cover as a defending midfielder. Edward Herrera was their extra wide player on the right in a three-pronged midfield of Lima, Failla and Cohen through the middle, supporting Luis Edison up front.

The towering presence of central defenders Vincent Kouadio and Kris Thackray dominated the Qormi area on long crosses, as Roderick Sammut and Jonathan Bondin provided good cover on the flanks. The middle four of Triston Caruana, Joseph Farrugia, Joseph Chetcuti and Matthew Bartolo ventured less forward, as Qormi were more cautious and relied on the fast breaks of their two foreigners Bello-Osagie and Jorge Pereira in attack.

For all their willingness to take an early lead, Qormi were forced to absorb the early pressure as the Paolites took a firm grip on the proceedings, dominating play for the entire first 45 minutes.

Qormi keeper Matthew Farrugia was kept quite busy, although his first real save came from a headed effort by team mate Kouadio as he tried to clear Herrera’s testing cross from the right.

On 13 minutes Soares’ glancing header, on a Lima sailing free kick, was turned into a corner by Farrugia and past the quarter hour, Edison anticipated Kouadio on a Cohen low cross but the Qormi custodian again blocked into a corner.

Hibernians implicit superiority continued to show and on another set piece, Soares played the ball back to Failla, whose grounder was saved by Farrugia.

Hibernians were menacing on 23 minutes. Kouadio failed to intercept Cohen’s through pass, Edison ran clear inside the Qormi area but was thwarted by the keeper into a corner.

A goal for Hibernians looked inevitable at that stage and it came on 36 minutes when Edsion was appended by Chetcuti inside the area as he connected to Failla’s cross to win a penalty. Clayton Failla stepped up to beat the keeper and give his side a much deserved lead.

Hibernians even managed to double that a minute before halftime. Herrera won possession from midfield, advanced and played the ball wide on the right to Jackson Lima who beat the Qormi keeper hands down with an exquisite left foot shot at the top corner.

Whatever pep talk by coach Stephen Azzopardi at halftime, for Qormi to regroup, was rendered futile hardly three minutes after the restart when Hibernians struck the fatal blow. Edison did all the work on the left, cut trhough the middle and laid the ball in the path of Jackson Lima to unleash a shot from some 25 metres out to which keeper Farrugia arrived late.

Qormi put in Kenneth Scicluna for Chetcuti and advanced Thackray in midfield as Hibernians took a more laid back approach, showing clear intentions to defend their comfortable lead.

But Qormi failed to capitalise, often frustrated by their opponents’ offside trap. Past the hour, Pereira was fractionally offside on Joseph Farrugia’s pass forward and although he beat keeper Muscat, the goal was rightly disallowed.

With Hibernians still more potent going foward on the fast breaks, Edison missed two good opportunities between the 68th and 71st minutes.

He first failed to make contact on the loose ball, after keeper Farrugia had fumbled Failla’s diagonal shot and then he shot straight on the keeper as Cohen’s splitting pass had caught the Qormi rearguard completely off balance. Edison was unlucky when he thumped Pisani’s shot against the post on the stroke of full time.

But by then, Qormi knew that their time was up. They came up with tame efforts through a Caruana pot shot from the edge of the area and a Joseph Farrugia free kick that missed the target. Bello-Osagie also shot over in the dying minutes as demorilised Qormi scored a consolation goal deep into five minutes of added time, with skipper Joseph Farrugia hitting Caruana’s cross low past keeper Muscat. But that served only for statistical purpose as Hibernians claimed victory and their captain Muscat could hold aloft the FA Trophy to the delight of the euphoric Paola supporters.

Qormi M. Farrugia, R. Sammut, M. Bartolo, J. Chetcuti (K. Scicluna), J. Farrugia, J. Bondin (L. Sciberras), J. Pereira, K. Thackray, T. Caruana, A. Bello-Osagie, V. Kouadio (S. Wellman)

Coach S. Azzopardi

Hibernians M. Musact, J. Pearson (S. Pisani), R. Soares, R. Camilleri, J. Vandelannoite, J. Lima (M. Dias), E. Herrera, B. Kristensen, A. Cohen, C. Failla, L. Edison (J. Bezzina)

Coach R. Mercieca

Referee M. Borg

Asst.refs A. Camilleri, S. Attard

4th official M. Apap

Scorers C. Failla 36 pen, J. Lima 44, 48, J. Farrugia 90+

Yellow cards T. Caruana, A. Bello-Osagie, L. Edison, J. Pearson

Attendance 6,996