Munro, STETHS, Lacovia carry St Bess forward
SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Back in late September there were those smiling and shaking their heads in disbelief at Keveral Stewart’s optimism.
Back then the Munro College Under-19 football coach was confidently predicting that despite a disastrous start to the ISSA/Flow daCosta Cup season, including two losses and a drawn result in the first three games, his team would be in the mix for the second round of the daCosta Cup.
“I have every confidence in this team. We have good ball players and we will get it right,” he told the Jamaica Observer last month following a 0-1 loss to longtime arch-rivals St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS).
The naysayers pointed out, among other things, that Munro were being forced to play their home games away from home (at Alpart and a final game at STETHS because their field at the school in Potsdam, Malvern, is being rehabilitated.
Three weeks later, following a hard-fought 4-2 victory over Lacovia High at STETHS, Stewart was quietly celebrating his team’s qualification for the inter-zone round of the competition. Munro, who last won the daCosta Cup in the early 1960s, will today face Spalding High at STETHS in their opening game of this phase.
Four-time daCosta Cup winners STETHS topped Zone E ahead of Munro, while Lacovia High, who were edged out of second place on goal difference, are also through to the Inter-zone round.
Lacovia travel to Portland today to face Fair Prospect High, while STETHS meet Alston High at Kirkvine.
“At Munro, we have a lovely set of boys,” Stewart said following the win over Lacovia last Saturday. “They are always willing to fight no matter what. They believe in themselves and I believe in them,” he added.
Munro owed their victory to goals from Oshane Walker in the ninth minute, Timar Lewis in the 13th and Dijon Scott in the 60th and 69th minutes.
For Lacovia High, who played the last half hour after Alkem Brown was ejected for a bad tackle, Oshane Staple and Ricardo Lee found the net.The result was understandably depressing for Lacovia High who entered the game against Munro as Zone E leaders.
At game’s end, Lacovia High’s coach Fitzroy Ambursley said less than smooth pre-season preparation contributed to the falling away of his team after a strong start.
Yet he took comfort that his team with an average age of 16 did well enough to reach the inter-zone round. “We just have to continue working hard,” he said.
— Garfield Myers
