Howard Walker, Staff Reporter

Portmore United cap-tured the all-island Red Stripe Champions Cup KO championship with a hard-fought 4-3 penalty-kick win over Boys' Town at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium on Sunday night.

Both teams played to a 1-1 draw in normal and extra-time, and it took the dreaded penalty kicks to decide the winner.

Portmore, winners in 2005, walked away with the winning cash prize of $650,000 and their second lien on the trophy after contesting their third consecutive final.

Boys' Town foughthard and showed a lot of intensity but had to settle for the runners-up prize of $450,000.

In front of a decent-sized crowd at Compound, it was Boys' Town that struck first in the 47th minute after referee Courtney Campbell pointed to the spot for a foul on Renae Lloyd in the box.

Veteran Fabian Watkins converted from the spot, but just, after his tame shot made it under the outstretched hand of Shawn Sawyers.

The equaliser

Twelve minutes later Portmore found the equaliser from their most creative player in Wolry Wolfe. The talented midfielder found space in the box to head home from a left sided free-kick in the 59th minute.

Wolfe then went over to his fans and celebrated as if he was drinking, presumably - a Red Stripe beer.

The remainder of the final never lived up to expectations and petered out into a tame dra both teams played hard.

Portmore, with national goal-keeper Sawyers, were always favoured to win the penalty shoot-out, but Boys' Town's tall goal-keeper Philmore Crumbie gave them some anxious moments.

Boys' Town's Troy Dawes, Renae Lloyd and Daemon Benjamin hit the target, but Fabian Watkins, Michael Campbell and Xavean Virgo all missed.

For Portmore, Anthony Modeste, Adrian Reid, Shawn Sawyers and Eric Vernon all converted, while Carlington Smith and Christopher Dawes missed.

Ironically in the tense shoot-out, which reached sudden death, national defender Virgo saw his shot crash onto the crossbar to set the stage for 19-year-old Eric Vernon to seal the win for Portmore.

Vernon, a national under-20 player and former star of the Glenmuir High team that won the daCosta Cup a few seasons ago, calmly placed his shot wide of the goalkeeper, showing a level of maturity well beyond his age.

Confident

"I was calm and I was ready for it. I was always confident. There was no pressure," said Vernon in relation to his kick under tense circumstances.

For head coach Linval Dixon, it was his first major title since taking charge a couple of weeks back andhe was a happy man.

Said Dixon: "It feels marvellous. I want to congratulate the players for getting the victory. It was a difficult game for us. They came running because they had nothing to lose. They played an excellent game, but we held it together and got the victory."

Andrew Price, coach of Boys' Town, thought his team matched Portmore in every aspect but the luck of the draw in penalty shoot-outs didn't go his way.

Said Price: "It was a good game, we gave Portmore as much as they gave us. We played a good tactical game for about 60 minutes before we gave up a free header inside the box.

"We ran with them for the remainder of the game. It was chess match and in penalties it was the luck of the draw and I can't fault my team."

Boys' Town 1

Fabian Watkins 47th

Portmore United 1

Wolry Wolfe59th

Penalty shoot-out

Boys' Town 3

(Troy Dawes, Renae Lloyd, Daemon Benjamin)

Portmore United 4

(Anthony Modeste, Adrian Reid, Shawn Sawyers, Eric Vernon)