AMIDST the pall that hangs over Holy Trinity High School over the last few years, the success of the football team in the all-island LIME Super Cup is brightly shining through.

Holy Trinity has been called a ‘failing school’ and a ‘prison school’ following surveys done by the Government and has been suffering ever since.

It was one of four schools in 2011, labelled as a ‘failing school’, along with Marcus Garvey Technical High School, St Ann; Glengoffe High School, St Catherine; and Balaclava High School, St Elizabeth.

A few years later, in 2014, a research document published by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) named Holy Trinity as one of Jamaica’s lowest-ranked high schools churning out misfits, some of whom have ended up in the country’s prisons.

Margaret Brissett-Bolt, principal of the 61-year-old institution for the last two years, revealed to the Jamaica Observer that it was a painful experience for her.

“The school continues to struggle… and remember, we had a lot of negative publicity in the last few years. We were called all kinds of names and I remember earlier this year, we were called the prison school. We were called the failing school and teachers were really demotivated,” said Brissett-Bolt.

“I remember the first month I came here, it was in the middle of the Manning Cup and the first time in my life I was going to a Manning Cup match and it was with Holy Trinity High School.

“I remember sitting on the bench with the guys and it was so exciting and I never knew, through that activity, we would come where we are today,” she added.

“Although you see two coaches, Mr Webb (Nigel) and Mr Anderson (Devon), but there is a little support group around them that keeps things going with no money,” noted the principal.

The school’s achievement in reaching the final of the LIME Super Cup set for Saturday has gone a far way in removing the negatives affixed to the name Holy Trinity.

“The school has been through some rough times and so, for us, this is a moment of triumph already, win or lose. This is a moment of celebration for us. We are on a high right now like we have been through the valley, been through the fire. It’s just a good time,” Brissett-Bolt reiterated.

Holy Trinity occupies a section of North Street made popular by Kingston College (KC) and St George’s College, but the official address is listed as 18 George Headley Drive, opposite Sabina Park.

The back of Holy Trinity overlooks the front of KC on North Street, while a few metres to the west, the famous and sprawling Holy Trinity Cathedral separates them from St George’s College.

Holy Trinity High School, named after the Holy Trinity Cathedral, was formerly St Anthony’s Senior School. It is a Catholic institution that was established by the Franciscan Sisters at West Street in Kingston in the late- 1940s. The school was later relocated to Orange Street where it operated under the leadership of the Sisters of Mercy responsible for Alpha Academy.

In 1953, the school was relocated to properties owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston at 18 Emerald Road (now George Headley Drive), the home of the world-famous Sabina Park cricket ground.

In 1995 the school was renamed – Holy Trinity Comprehensive High School – and admitted its first batch of Common Entrance students. In 2000 the school was again renamed Holy Trinity High School in keeping with the Ministry of Education’s policy of upgrading all Comprehensive High Schools.

The school qualified for the inaugural LIME Super Cup by getting in as the eighth and final team, being the best second-placed urban team.

The team defeated Clarendon College 4-3 on penalties, sent home another Clarendon team, Garvey Maceo 4-0 before shocking the fancied Wolmer’s Boys 1-0 en route to the final.

So, as far as the LIME Super Cup is concerned, Holy Trinity is the top school on North Street ahead of their close neighbours KC, who did not qualify, and St George’s, who were knocked out by Wolmer’s Boys in the quarter-final.

Holy Trinity, with a school population of 1,400 students and a motto of Est Satis Optimum (Only the Best Is Good Enough), will enter the Super Cup final the clear underdogs against Jamaica College.

“For the first time I think we have flags, so it’s just a beautiful spirit. I didn’t realised they were so caught up in what was happening. Last week Monday after we defeated Garvey Maceo and Monday morning at devotion, I said, ‘students you know we have to celebrate’ and the whole school just broke out… it was just euphoria. Normally, when I step on that stage it is usually to tell them about the uniform…it was just great,” Brissett-Bolt continued.

According to the principal, it’s like a dream for the school, with such a small budget, to be competing against schools with far greater resources.

Said Brissett-Bolt: “We just formed an association and they get a lot of motivational talks. One or two past students pass through and give small amounts. But when I talk to other principals from other schools and I hear their sports budget, I said, my God that’s our budget for the whole school.”

“Sometimes I don’t know what to say to Mr Webb and Mr Anderson because I know they are giving their all and we don’t have the money to back them. We do get some little amount coming in, or someone might send a case of chicken, but they put their hands in their pockets most times,” she revealed.

Meanwhile, head coach Devon Anderson said it is no surprise that Holy Trinity have done well this season, seeing that their youth teams over the years have done well.

“We have a number of talented players. We can’t attract anybody to come to Holy Trinity from outside, so what we do is that the little half- nourished kids that we have here, we try to teach them the basic skills in order for them to develop and come of age,” he said.

But having developed these players, Holy Trinity at times have lost a number of players to other top traditional schools, and that’s something Anderson said has hampered the team’s progress.

The school has to play all their games away from home and has missed that school-base support necessary to propel the team forward.

“We can’t really help that. We need a lot of help. Our field is a dust bowl. We don’t even have one piece of weight to use. In terms of training equipment, we patch a few balls and start the programme.

“But over the years we put that aside and we dig in and fight and this year it was very challenging seeing that two of our best goalscorers and the core of our team left last year,” noted Anderson.

Holy Trinity made their mark in 2013 with top strikers Shamar Dillion and Nicholas Hamilton. Both have completed their tenure at school and are currently in Jamaica’s National Under-20 set-up.

At the start of the season, Anderson said he believed this team was the weakest in three years, but hard work and determination have reaped rich dividends.

“This year we worked the hardest with the group. We went out there in the dust bowl and, trust me, we did some hard work,” said Anderson.