The fourth staging of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/FLOW Super Cup competition was deemed a resounding success.

Carlo Redwood, FLOW’s vice-president of marketing and TV, was on hand to witness Kingston College’s (KC) 3-0 win over St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) in the final at Sabina Park on Saturday.

“We are totally happy with it. (It was a) really excellent season, good quality football. All the controversy, the intrigue, the excitement, the uncertainties game-to-game, I think that created a different vibe and energy around Super Cup this year,” Redwood told the Jamaica Observer.

The rich Super Cup was contested by the top eight teams from the Walker Cup and daCosta Cup competitions, with teams earning from a minimum $50,000 to a whopping $1 million.

KC, with a hat-trick from Rashawn Mackison, dismissed STETHS 3-0 for their first hold on the beautiful crystal trophy and pocketed $650,000 for winning the final, taking their total earnings to $1 million from three games.

KC’s emphatic victory also continued the dominance of Corporate Area schools, joining Jamaica College (JC), St George’s College and Wolmer’s Boys’ as champions since it was first started in 2014.

The tournament started on November 11 with urban teams KC, JC, Calabar High and St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS), along with rural teams STETHS, Rusea’s High, Clarendon College and Dinthill High.

Eventual champion KC defeated Rusea’s High 4-1 and brushed aside JC 2-1 before dismissing STETHS 3-0 to be crowned all-island champion.

STETHS outmuscled STATHS and Calabar High on penalties to reach their first final and only the second rural team to reach thus far in the competition.

“We are totally happy how the teams played and how they competed, though we had some areas certainly for improvement. But so many things that happen… the fans experience was really good this season,” said Redwood.

The title sponsor also wanted to reassure fans that the Super Cup, dubbed the Champions League of schoolboy football, is here for the long haul.

“What I can reassure is that the schoolboy football product is going to continue to improve overall. Super Cup is really just a piece of that improvement,” Redwood pointed out.

He continued: “You would have seen it on the Manning Cup side this year… you would have seen it on the daCosta Cup side, and you are going to see it next week. When you see the execution of the daCosta Cup and Manning Cup finals, you are going to see the change in dynamics of how schoolboy football is presented, (and) that’s going to happen and continue going forward.”

FLOW, in their attempt to “perfect the formula”, allowed as many persons as possible to witness the games via YouTube or FLOW Sports Channel, along with the mobile FLOW Sports App.

Now that the tournament has ended, there will be two Super Cup All-Star teams that will be selected. The ‘A’ team will be selected by the media, while the ‘B’ team will be chosen via Facebook voting. The teams will then be involved in a training session with coaches from English club Manchester United.

– Howard Walker