Stingrays win spot in grand final

If Manly provide the best contest going around, they may as well hand over the grand final trophy to to the Stingrays straight away.That was the sentiment floating around JJ Kelly Park after Illawarra thrashed the pretenders 3-1 in yesterday's major semi-final.Illawarra - a week after sealing consecutive premierships - humiliated the league runners-up to book first spot in the August 22 decider, which will be played at Balls Paddock.While the Stingrays cool their heels for a fortnight, Manly must regroup for a winner-take-all stoush next Sunday with Inter Lions - who eliminated Macarthur.The big top towering over the ground and some colourfully dressed - and noisy - supporters gave the encounter a circus-feel, but it was all business on the park with a grand final berth at stake.Illawarra's best early chance went to waste when Jess Cooper headed a Sam Spackman cross over in the 15th minute.Spackman took matters into her own hands five minutes later when she buried a flick-on from Ash Connor for 1-0.Manly keeper Alyssa Harris was brilliant to deny Connor twice in the next seven minutes, but couldn't do anything when Trudy Camilleri tapped in the 37th minute for 2-0.The midfielder provided the perfect finish to a well-worked move that climaxed with another pin-point Spackman centre.Spackman's combination with Camilleri paid dividends again five minutes into the second half, when the latter volleyed home a corner for 3-0.There was a glimmer of hope for Manly when Gill Foster scored a penalty after Kristen Lee brought down Heidi Van Weeren, but Illawarra held firm.Earlier, Marconi qualified for the reserve grade decider 2-1 over Manly and Western NSW (under 16s), Macarthur (under 14s) and Sutherland (under 12s) won the junior contests.