Jubilant St. Jago players celebrate their Walker Cup triumph over Norman Manley yesterday at Ferdie Neita Park. St. Jago won 2-0. -Carlington Wilmot photoDaraine Luton, Freelance Writer
ST. JAGO fished the Walker Cup into their net yesterday, thereby hauling in the leftovers of the Corporate Area's schoolboy title after they had missed out on the prize Manning Cup.
The Danny Hawthorne-coached team took the title by beating dethroned Manning Cup champions Norman Manley 2-0 at Ferdie Neita Park.
The Cup is the first schoolboy crown for the St. Catherine team in their history and it was claimed through the efforts of Horace Sharp and Fidel Anderson who got the goals. Sharpe beautifully executed a build-up which originated from deep in midfield from where Kenrick Rodriquez picked out Enrico Gordon on the right side of the penalty area with the latter executing fine ball control before providing Sharpe with a pass on the six-yard box which he slotted past Jermaine Campbell in Norman Manley's goal, breaking the 0-0 deadlock in the 70th minute.
Four minutes later, Anderson delivered a shocker which silenced the Norman Manley supporters and took the wind out of their players. From 40 yards out, he saw Campbell off his line and let fly a stunner that curled over the stranded goalie's head before landing in the back of his net.
Those two goals took St. Jago's season's tally to 42 and they conceded only once. They also ended the season unbeaten and could consider themselves unlucky not to have made it into the semi-finals of the Manning Cup after Manley had held them to a 0-0 draw to inch them out.
However, as one St. Jago fan told The Sunday Gleaner about yesterday's grudge match: "It separate di sheep from di goal. Inna Manning Cup dem full up dem goal mout fi stop wi from guh through but wi a big side".
Meanwhile, Norman Manley have only themselves the blame as their opponents did not dominate the game.
Hawthorne was happy with his team's consolation win.
"It cannot pay for the Manning Cup but it is good winning this trophy," he said.
"It is surely a great feeling. We have played well all season, never been beaten, it's a sweet reward."
Hawthorne is already promising that his team, which is likely to lose only three players, will take the major honours next year.
"We will be better next year," Hawthorne said.
Meanwhile, for Alrick Clarke, coach of Norman Manley, not wining any titles this year was a disappointment.
"We did not win any titles but we had a fairly good season. Three of our teams got into the quarter-finals of their competitions. Our Pepsi and the Walker Cup team got through to the finals and our Manning Cup team got through to the semis. It is only that we did not win any silverware," Clarke said.
While the Corporate Area's most coveted schoolboy crown is resting at Excelsior, Hawthorne is convinced that St. Jago was the best team this season.
"We are far superior than the other teams. We are at a more superior level, way ahead of the top," he said.
Earlier in the Ferdie Neita Park doubleheader, Kemar Malcolm scored his 17th goal of the season, netting in the second minute to carry St. Georges to a 1-0 win over Norman Manley in the ISSA Under-14 final.
