HAYES, Clarendon — They will not play in the next JFF All-Island Knockout competition. They also failed to retain their Major League title but — after Humble Lion and Sporting Central Academy — it is widely believed that Jamalco is currently the best football club in Clarendon.

Over the course of the past two months, the south-east Clarendon side, managed by the alumina company of the same name, has lived up to that perception.

Having qualified for the final of the South Central Confederation Super Eight Championship, they are now one win away from a place in the National Premier League play-off — a prospect that looked bleak in the closing stages of the recently concluded Clarendon Captain’s Bakery Major League season.

Beaten to the trophy by newcomers Treadlight — whom they had defeated in the mid-season final — a difficult campaign was forecast for Jamalco at the Confed level, with many believing that failing to progress beyond the semi-final stage of their parish competition would have eaten away at their confidence.

That reasoning was based on the notion that Jamalco — founded in the 2010-11 season with the aim of emulating the national success of the company’s netball team — weren’t used to losing. They had won a trophy in each of their previous three years of existence, while also representing Clarendon in the JFF All-Island Knockout competition.

But to their credit, the management team, even while they were setting the league ablaze, did play down the importance of trying to retain the Major League title. The club noted that, having already secured a place in the Super Eight play-off, their sole aim was to use the parish competition as an extended pre-season campaign.

“Our aim is to qualify for the Premier League,” Ewan Scott, the team manager, told the Sunday Observer at the time.

Grouped favourably with DB Basovak, Alligator Pond and Newell United in Zone A of the Super Eight play-off, Jamalco were expected to finish in the top two. Three games into the play-offs they had all but qualified for the semi-finals.

They opened their campaign with back-to-back 1-0 wins over Newell United and DB Basovak, before tying 3-3 with Alligator Pond to move within three points of the semis with the return fixtures still to play.

The player who is largely responsible for Jamalco’s success in the prelims is Roshane Sharpe, a 17-year-old Garvey Maceo High student, who was also a member of Jamaica’s last Under-17 team.

Sharpe, who has been representing Jamalco since age 14, scored five goals in six group games. But his most significant contribution came last Sunday in the semi-finals at St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex when he bagged a second-half brace to send Jamalco into the final with a 3-0 win over Black Stars.

When this project was launched, four years ago, it was a commonly held view in Clarendon that Jamalco would eventually become a Premier League team. Perhaps that belief was provoked by the assumption that their parent company has the resources to sustain a top- flight club — a capability that they have demonstrated (albeit in a less competitive environment) with their Winston Nevers-led netball team, who, in addition to winning numerous national titles, have been a reliable production line for the Sunshine Girls.

An appearance in Sunday evening’s play-off final is the closest Jamalco have come to realising their Premier League. But now, a much more experienced outfit in the shape of St Catherine’s DB Basovak stands in their way.