A KEEBRA Park blitz has sent the Gold Coast school cart wheeling into the national Arrive Alive Cuo final on Friday September 22, beating St Dominics Penrith 20-6 in Fridays semi final at Townsville.

Against bigger opposition Keebra scored three tries in the opening 13 minutes to all but seal the result, establishing a 14-0 advantage by the halftime break.

The highlight of the game came just three minutes in when former Gladstone junior Damon Harth scored a scorching try from dummy-half, running 40m to bring the Dairy Farmers Stadium crowd alive.

Equally at home in the centres or forwards, Harth started at lock and danced confidently through a stack of defenders as he plunged over for the opening try.

His incision was followed five minutes later with a try to centre Kyle Bos down a narrow blindside. At first glance it appeared Bos had bombed a certain try to the open side, but made amends with his determination to find the line.

As has been the case all season, the well-drilled Keebra side showed maturity beyond their years, responding well to adversity and quickly recovering from errors.

Their line speed in defence was again something to behold and they took the match to their southern rivals with a fierce intensity.

When centre Kingi Akauola a prominent figure throughout the schools charge dived over for Keebras third try, it was all one way traffic.

Yet to St Dominics credit they hung on until halftime with a passage of football which saw them give as good as they got.

St Dominics had beaten highly-rated St Gregorys Campbelltown 28-20 the previous week and there was enough to suggest they would lift in the second stanza.

Unfortunately for them, before they could muster a response, the elusive Robert Lui pounced for Keebra.

Playing in front of his old home crowd, the Townsville Centrals and Upper Ross junior made it 18-0, extended to 20-0 when Matt Parata added the extras.

Not long after St Dominics notched their first points with a slick try to winger John Feiloakitau, finishing off a backline movement. Backrower Michael Mate converted for a 20-6 difference.

With almost 20 minutes left on the clock there was plenty of time to bridge the gap, but poor ball handling from both sides took the sting from the match, the scoreline remaining unchanged.

Although not featuring on the scorers sheet, Keebras front row of Stu McGill, Lio Vaiga and Jimmy Poland deserved much of the credit. McGill and Vaiga punched holes in attack and hit hard in defence, while skipper Poland gave good direction and a steadying influence to his side.

Keebras opponents in the national final, to be held in Sydney, will be either reigning champs Endeavour Sports High or Patrician Brothers Blacktown.

A former strikeweapon for Townsville junior clubs Centrals Tigers and Upper Ross Rams, the multi-talented Robert Lui will start at five-eighth for Keebra in the clash with St Dominic's Penrith.

On a huge evening of football in the tropics, the Arrive Alive Cup semi will be held at 4.15pm, followed by the Queensland Wizard Cup sudden death final at 5.30pm between the North Queensland Young Guns and Easts Tigers.

As if that wasn't enough, the Cowboys will take on the Parramatta Eels at 7.30pm in a Townsville farewell for stalwarts Matt Sing, Travis Norton and Josh Hannay.

Regardless of the activity scheduled around them, Greg Lenton's Keebra Park side will be firmly focused on continuing on from its 18-4 demolition of St Brendan's Yeppoon a fortnight ago.

If the Gold Coast outfit can overcome St Dominic's it will face either Endeavour Sports High or Patrician Brothers Blacktown in the prestigious national final.
SOURCE : QRL IMAGE : AAC