Munro a work in progress, says ‘Jackie’ Walters
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Patrick ‘Jackie’ Walters is not ready to count chickens before they are hatched as he starts his first season with Munro College in the ISSA daCosta Cup schoolboy football competition set to get underway this weekend.
Walters, one of the most successful schoolboy football coaches in the country, took over the programme at Munro College earlier this year. He oversees the entire football programme from Under-14s all the way up, and says he is putting in the foundation now.
“It’s a rebuilding process,” he told the Jamaica Observer after a 0-1 loss to Cornwall College in Montego Bay, in their annual Jackson Shield competition.
“It’s a fairly young team, everybody here can play again next year [and] they are at a stage now where they will get better and develop more.”
Cornwall College retained the Jackson Shield after the two games series ended 2-2 as Munro College won the Over 35 game 2-1.
Munro College have not won the daCosta Cup since 1964 and hopes were high last year when they won the ISSA Rural Area Under-16 title, but the team was gutted months later when as many as six players from the daCosta Cup squad jumped ship and transferred to Corporate Area schools.
Munro College have played second fiddle to St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) for most of the last decade or so with just one senior football final to their account— a loss in the Ben Francis KO in 2009. Ironically, that was to a Jackie Walters-coached Glenmuir High team.
Their last appearance in the daCosta cup final came in 2000 when they were hammered 0-4 by Cornwall College in ankle deep mud at Jarrett Park.
Munro College have topped their first-round group just once in recent years— in 2009 under the guidance of Hopeton Gilchrist. But they came close in 2013 when they finished second on goal difference to STETHS, They have failed to advance past the first round twice in the last five years— in 2014 and 2016 seasons.
Walters, a wily tactician, is taking everything in stride, and stayed wide of many prediction for the upcoming season.
“This is schoolboy football and any number can play,” he told the Observer.
“We have to keep things tight, keep them focused and in an environment where we can get the best out of them.”
