Two of the most successful teams Jamaica College and Kingston College will contest the final of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/Digicel Manning Cup football competition at Stadium East today.
The kick-off is slated for 3:00 pm after St Catherine High Schools and Kingston Technical High School meet to decide the Walker Cup Knock-out final at 1:00 pm.
Jamaica College and Kingston College last contested the Manning Cup final in 1975 and history shows the Old Hope Road-based team topping the table with 30 victories in the competition, with Kingston College boasting half of that number.
This will be Jamaica College’s seventh final in eight years, including six titles. They won five straight between 2013 and 2017 before having their reign interrupted by Kingston College in 2018 when the North Street-based school broke a 32-year drought.
However, Jamaica College regained the title in 2019 and secured their spot in the final after putting away Charlie Smith High 3-0 in their semi-final matchup.
Kingston College dominated their group and got to the final after a come-from-behind 4-2 victory over St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS). Jamaica College coach Davion Ferguson is confident that his team is mentally and physically prepared to make this title number 31.
“IT’S a wonderful feeling to get to another Manning Cup final. I have been at Jamaica College for three years now and as you know we didn’t have a competition last year, so to actually make two finals in two seasons at Jamaica College is a wonderful feeling and that was part of our objective – to make the final.
“Once you’re in a final you have as good a chance of being champions. We understand the nature of the job, we understand what is required, and I think we are prepared enough to deliver, Ferguson told the Jamaican media.
Ferguson will rely on Dwight Merrick, Tarick Ximinies, captain Duncan McKenzie, Giovanni Mitto and Marlon Pennicooke to lead the team home to victory.
“We take every opponent seriously and we respect them but there is no fear. We are prepared for whatever we may be faced within what should be an intriguing final,” Ferguson said.
For Kingston College’s head coach Ludlow Bernard, the hope is that his team shows the determination, bravery and resilience required to get the job done in 90 minutes.
“It’s never a desire to go to penalties because that becomes a lottery draw. The last time we won a shoot-out against the same opponents they lost to them in another game.
“So I don’t want to be reliant on that because I don’t think it is a true reflection of who the better team is so we would want to get our business complete before the 90 minutes,” Bernard said.
He added: “It really puts us in good stead for winning but O won’t be overconfident because these are schoolboys we are dealing with and they can be very unpredictable on the day and the same goes for Jamaica College as well.
“We were resilient against STATHS, but I think we will have to be more concentrated in dealing with Jamaica College. They seem to be on momentum and both teams are pretty evenly matched.”
