Mater Dei on the way after wet win

MATER Dei Catholic College has set up a mouthwatering showdown with its archrival in next week's Carroll Cup final after cruising past Kooringal High School at Robertson Oval yesterday.Mater Dei made light work of the wet conditions and proved it is capable of much more than just a slick running game by posting a comfortable 40-point win over Kooringal in horrible conditions.The constant rain yesterday was meant to play into Kooringal's hands but Mater Dei showed another side of its game to run out impressive victors, 7.16 (58) to 3.0 (18).Kooringal battled hard and made the game a real scrap but never seriously challenged Mater Dei, who will now play Kildare Catholic College in next week's final.Mater Dei dominated possession around the ground and only a resilient Kooringal defence prevented a greater margin.Mater Dei coach Richard O'Connell was particularly pleased to see his team conquer the much tougher aspects of wet-weather football."I thought it was real good," O'Connell said of Mater Dei's win."We kept improving as the game went on. Our pressure was sensational and we played the conditions really well."With (Kooringal's) bigger bodies, the game played into their hands, but our guys stepped up and really lifted in the conditions."Harry Cunningham typified Mater Dei's game, with the unsuitable conditions unable to stop the speedy onballer.Cunningham dominated through the middle and was joined by Dean Ward and Joe Redfern as three standouts in Mater Dei's win.O'Connell said while he could not be happier with his team's effort through the competition so far, he believes Kildare's experience and bigger bodies make it favourites."We'll go in with confidence," O'Connell said."We're fighting in a different division now but I think we're definitely still a big show."Kooringal deserved plenty of credit for the way it went about the semi-final and co-coach Andrew Schmetzer said he was proud of his team's effort.Kooringal defenders Cameron Tokley and Jordan Fietz did outstanding jobs in defence while Shaun Flanigan was another strong performer for the losing team.