AFTER three months of intense competition, the schoolboy football season is now entering its final week.

The daCosta Cup, symbol of football supremacy among rural schools, will be decided today with St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) facing Dinthill Technical High at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

The game is adorned with intrigue, since in their previous encounter this season the two teams had to go to penalty kicks to decide who would go to the final of the ISSA/Flow Ben Francis Knockout (KO) final. As it turned out, STETHS triumphed 7-6 in the shootout in that semi-final game.

STETHS would subsequently win the Ben Francis Cup, having a much easier time in beating Manchester High 4-1 in the final.

STETHS and Dinthill will take the field today knowing that whoever wins will face tough and well-rounded Manning Cup champions Jamaica College for the Olivier Shield, which is the symbol of all-island supremacy in schoolboy football.

Defending champions Jamaica College will start favourites in the Olivier Shield final regardless of which team they face — with good reason. Not only is there a general perception that the overall standard among the elite teams in the Corporate Area is higher than the daCosta Cup, but recent history is also supportive.

Over the last decade, Corporate Area teams, particularly Jamaica College and St George’s College, have virtually monopolised the Olivier Shield.

The last time a rural school got a feel of the Olivier Shield was in 2006 when Glenmuir High from May Pen shared the all-island title with Bridgeport High.

Two years earlier, Glenmuir High had won the Olivier Shield outright — that’s the last time a rural school took sole ownership of the title.

Over recent weeks, the elite Corporate Area teams have had their fair share of drama. Stylishly fluent St George’s College were being hailed as one of the best schoolboy teams of recent vintage when they shocked Jamaica College 4-0 in the ISSA/Flow Cup final.

Many are still trying to come to terms with JC’s rebound in the Manning Cup final beating St George’s 1-0 a week ago. And last Wednesday, St George’s College again tasted defeat, going down to Wolmer’s Boys in the final of the Corporate Area knockout Walker Cup.

Whatever the result of today’s daCosta Cup final, and in the upcoming Olivier Shield, we suspect there will be overall satisfaction at the standard of play and general organisation in the various competitions.

There have been a few sour notes, but on the whole it seems spectator behaviour has been good.

Also, we have heard fewer complaints about overwork of the young players because of the crowded schedule, though we are aware it remains a concern.

Organisers should probably have another look at how travel schedules can be eased for rural schools after they have advanced from the preliminary stages. In the case of the ISSA/Flow Cup there does appear to be an inequitable arrangement involving lengthy trips for rural schools, compared to those in the Corporate Area.

And, of course, there is the long-standing problem of poor playing surfaces, for which we are aware there is no quick fix.

All told though, with just two games remaining, this has been a good under-19 schoolboy football season.