Carnell Learmond of Glenmuir - file
THE 2005 ISSA/Pepsi/JN schoolboy football season is now in full swing and after two weeks of action the top teams are beginning to emerge.
In the rural area daCosta Cup, defending champions Glenmuir High will be very difficult to beat. The Clarendon-based school has retained more than half of last year's all-conquering aggregation and it will take a very smart performance by one of the other schools to lower their colours.
The Jackie Walters-coached Glenmuir started out with a big 5-0 win over parish rivals Garvey Maceo High on the opening day of the competition at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay and followed that up with a 9-0 drubbing of Bustamante High.
Learmond too good
Their top players, including leading goalscorer Carnell Learmond, will be too good for the opposition and Glenmuir could score as many as 50 goals in the preliminary round. Many-time champions Cornwall College of Montego Bay were expected to test the 2004 champions but they are already in a battle with William Knibb for Group A honours after an embarrassing 3-0 loss to lowly Anchovy High. Other teams to watch include Cedric Titus and Ocho Rios in Zone D, Denbigh High in Zone H and St. Thomas Technical in Zone L (b).
The Manning Cup is far more competitive and several schools are capable of taking the coveted title at the end of the season. The likely top three or four teams may not be known until the end of the preliminary round in mid-October.
Calabar High, last year's beaten finalists, are the early favourites but they showed some vulnerability in only their second match. After beating Tarrant High 12-1, Calabar were clipped 1-0 by Dunoon but the Red Hills Road-based school bounced back on Monday with a good 3-1 victory over Charlie Smith Comprehensive.
Defending champions Excelsior High, under the wily Lebert Halliman, are, as usual, well-drilled but they may lack the quality or sheer physical presence to take home the trophy this year. They started well against Jamaica College at Jarrett Park but had to settle for a 2-2 draw after leading 2-0 and were again held to a 1-1 draw by Mona High yesterday. New school Eltham High have also been making a name for themselves and are already dark horses for top honours. Eltham made it three from three yesterday and are still to concede a goal. They have already defeated traditional kingpins Kingston College and also hold victories over Meadowbrook High and Holy Trinity High.
Talented JC
Despite the form shown by Calabar and Eltham I am leaning towards Jamaica College to take the title. JC looked a very talented bunch in their opening match against Excelsior but several players were guilty of taking too many touches on the ball before releasing it.
The Old Hope Road-based school showed improvement in a 2-0 win over Mona next time out and if they can kick the bad habit of playing too much to the gallery, will be among the top two in both the Manning and Walker Cup competitions.
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