Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

The Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) daCosta and Manning Cup football competitions will get under way on Saturday, September 13, with a triple-header at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay.

The competitions will see daCosta Cup champions Garvey Maceo High opening against Kemps Hill High, Manning Cup winners Jamaica College tackling Jonathan Grant High and traditional MoBay team, Cornwall College, taking on St James High.

Record entries

A record 85 schools will be participating in the daCosta Cup, while 36 are down to contest the Manning Cup, this despite the absence of Meadowbrook, Trench Town and Haile Selassie High.

Digicel and Pepsi return as title sponsors, with associate sponsorship coming from KFC and Scotiabank, according to details provided at Thursday's launch.

Whereas there is no noticeable newcomer in the Manning Cup, a total of five - Spot Valley High, Hopewell High, Holland High, Buff Bay High and Green Pond High - have been confirmed for the daCosta Cup, while three schools Cross Keys High, Edwin Allen High and Robert Lightbourne High - will make a return.

The preliminary round of the Manning Cup will be divided into six groups of six teams, with the winners and runners-up slated to advance to the quarter-final round. This round, which will see the group winners and runners-up being divided into groups of three, will then produce three group winners and a best second-place team overall, which will move on to contest the semi-final.

The final of the Manning Cup is slated for Saturday, November 29.

In the daCosta Cup, there will be 12 zones (A-L), with the 12th and final zone (L) being subdivided into LA and LB, so as to allow the 12 competing teams from the parishes of St Thomas and Portland to play an adequate number of matches, while not stretching out the premlinary round.

The 12 group winners and runners-up will then advance to the interzone round, which will be sub-divided into six groups. The interzone winners and the two best second-place teams will advance to the quarter-finals, which will be followed by the semi-final and grand finale, which is slated for Saturday, December 6.

The national play-off between the champions of rural and urban area for the Olivier Shield is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 10 and Saturday, December 13.

Other competitions

Meanwhile, the urban area knockout competition, the Walker Cup, will be contested among the preliminary group winners and the top two runners-up, while the rural area equivalent, the Ben Francis KO, will be contested between the zone winners, four of which - B, C, I and J - will draw a bye to the quarter-finals.

CVM Television, the official broadcast provider of both com-petitions, will carry live and delayed matches weekly, while football fans who wish to follow the action will have the opportunity do so at www.ISSAsports.com, the competition's new website.