The championship, which is in its second season, will have Holmwood Technical as its defending champions and in today's feature see Manchester High going up against Cross Keys at Manchester. ISSA and Grace officials will officially bowl off the competition during an opening ceremony, which is scheduled just before the start of the game.

Holmwood Technical, along with last year's beaten finalists, Vere Technical, and semi-finalists Godfrey Stewart and Ocho Rios, have drawn a bye from this round and will bow into action on Thursday during the second round.

The third and fourth rounds will be played on Saturday and next week Tuesday, with the the fifth round to be contested next week Friday.

In other key matchups on today, reigning Headley Cup champions St Elizabeth Technical will host DeCarteret College, Munro entertain Black River, Cornwall will be at home to Green Pond, Herbert Morrison tackle William Knibb, Grange Hill travel to Frome, Edwin Allen face Clarendon College, Old Harbour welcome Tacius Golding and St Thomas Technical will play Paul Bogle.

The semi-finals and finals, which will be followed by the Headley Cup league championship, will be played on Tuesday, January 27 and Friday, January 30.

Meanwhile, the urban area knockout equivalent, the Jamaica Interna-tional Insurance (JIIC) Cup, which was last year captured by Eltham High, will be played mid-way through the Grace Shield league championship, which is slated to get under way on Thursday.

Perennial title contenders Jamaica College will host former kingpins Kingston College in the feature game of the round.

Eltham High, who will bow into action with a home game against Bridgeport High, are the defending Grace Shield champions.