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Manning Cup second round begins this week
TEEN sport
BY Dhane Brown Observer TEENage writer UWI
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
After a two week break to facilitate the playing of the Walker Cup, the nation's most prestigious and longest running schoolboy football competition resumes this week. With the first round out of the way, this year's men have been separated from the boys to form a three-group system of the corporate area's top teams. Continuing our extensive Manning Cup coverage, TEENage takes a look at the three groups and what just might happen.
Group One
St George's College, Jamaica College, Calabar High and Wolmer's High
With what is possibly the hottest group in several years, group one definitely has the tag of 'Group of Death'. With the champions of the last four years, as well as another hungry perennial challenger in Wolmer's Boys', the group will definitely be difficult to pick a winner from the bunch. With only one team sure to advance to the semis from this group, you can be sure that these matches will be played as much on the drawing boards as they are on the field.
Group Two
Norman Manley High, Bridgeport High, Waterford High and Eltham High
The task of playing all the teams to advance from St Catherine this year will fall to Norman Manley. Whether this proves to be anything more than of academic interest, remains to be seen, as the rumours of St Catherine teams sticking together to fight out others have up until now been just that - rumours. What is sure though, is that Walker Cup semi-finalists Norman Manley face three hungry young teams, eager to prove that sporting development is key to their plans for developing the youth with whom they were entrusted. Even though, Norman Manley and Bridgeport will think the battle will be between them, it would be remiss of them to sleep on the other two teams in the round.
Group Three
Excelsior High, Kingston College, St Andrew Technical High, Tivoli High.
This group contains three teams, who over the past few years have flattered only to deceive in the forms of Excelsior, KC and STATHS. Tivoli High is in the middle of re-establishing themselves as a powerhouse admist violence and indiscipline inside the programme. With that said, we still cannot count out the fact that each of these teams are capable of packing precise and potent punches when encountered on their day. This group will come down simply to who can pull the best string of games together over the next two weeks.
All in all, with only the winner of each group guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals (the fourth is to be filled by the best second place from the groups) it will be an all out battle to be listed as urban area schoolboy football's top four.
Schoolboy Player Profile
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| Holness |
Full Name: Omar Duke Holness
D.O.B: March 13, 1994
Position: Attacking midfielder/Right winger
School: Wolmer's Boys' High School
Goals this season: 3
Affiliated Club: Real Mona
Ambition: Professional Footballer/ Architect
Background: Currently a fourth form student at the Wolmer's Boys', Omar has already, in his 15 years on earth, managed to achieve what some professional 15-year stalwarts have tried to or hope for - that is to grace the grass of an English Premier League team.
He is one of two Jamaican youth who made the journey to Sunderland for a one-week trial with the club with year.
Academically he embraces the fields of the Arts and the Sciences, with aspirations to fulfil his dreams of either becoming a professional football player or an architect.
For the near future he simply hopes to see his school in the headlines as the Manning Cup winners of 2009, a feat which he believes is well within their grasp.
He is certainly helping this case with eight assists thus far for his team. Tivoli Gardens is his favourite local team while Rudolph Austin is his favourite Jamaican player. He rates Steven Gerrard and Liverpool as his favourite international player and club respectively and would certainly love to even pass the ball to his role model.
Message to rivals: We might be underdogs, but we are coming hungry for the Manning Cup title whether it is St George's or Jamaica College we are ready and waiting to beat anyone in our way.
Speakers call for discipline at Under-13 and 15 award ceremony
On Thursday, disci-pline and hard work was the order of the day as curtains were drawn on the All-island Under 13 and15 Challenge Cup at the Jamaica Football Federation head office. National coach Theodore Whitmore appealed to Jamaica's future national players to be disciplined in their trade and to work hard in the game which they love.
Whitmore, in what was described by Communications Manager Nodley Wright as a brilliant speech, also made reference to Usain Bolt's discipline and how it paid off in 9.58 seconds. CONCACAF's Regional Manager Keith Lookloy reiterated the point of discipline among football players and with the recent death of a national player; Lookloy begged the youngsters not to be just another statistic on the list of people killed for the year.
In ending, Lookloy reminded the boys that "only a real man walks away from a fight" and urged them to all become real men.
The other highlight of the award ceremony was Wolmerian Omar Holness who to the delight of the awardees and everyone in attendance shared his recent experience at English Premier League outfit Sunderland FC.
Holness, who plies his trade in the Manning Cup was quick to point out that it will not be easy to get a professional contract but as Kenwyne Jones of Sunderland told him, hard work and the right attitude will go a far way in achieving any goal. At the end of the award ceremony, everyone was in a jubilant mood as St. Andrew walked away with the champions' trophy in the under 13, St. Catherine took the under 15 title while Kingston was runner up in both competitions. Iishmle Currie of Clarendon was the leading goal scorer for the under 13 while St Catherine's Cardel Benbow took the award for the under 15 competition.
Click for - Results - JC, George's march on
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