CATHERINE HALL, St James — Former champions Jamaica College from the Manning Cup competition and Cornwall College form the daCosta Cup competition — two of the most successful schools in Jamaican high school boys football — will meet today in the ISSA Champions Cup at Montego Bay Sports Complex at 5:30 pm.

Cornwall College, who are also in the final of the ISSA/Wata daCosta Cup competition, are seeking to become the first school outside of Kingston to win the cash-rich competition in the first final played outside of Kingston.

It will be Cornwall College’s second time in the final, after losing to Wolmer’s Boys’ in 2016, but it is the third-straight year that schools from either of the two competitions will be meeting in the decider.

It will be the third time the schools will be meeting at this level since 2014 and Jamaican College have won both times, in the first round of the then Super Cup and again in the Olivier Shield two years later.

Both teams are coming off less than acceptable performances in the semi-finals of the their “local” competitions, but while Cornwall College managed to eke out a penalty kicks win over Frome Technical to advance to the daCosta Cup final, Jamaica’s College were beaten by St George’s College, ending their five-year run as champions.

Despite the performances, both teams are upbeat and the coaches are positive they will lift the trophy today.

Dr Dean Weatherly, the Cornwall College head coach, told the Jamaica Observer on Thursday: “The time is now for us. We need to get this monkey off our backs.

“We have a lot of work to do to get the engine room well-oiled and ready to go,” he said, before adding that it would not be difficult to motivate the players who were held goalless for the first time since the 2016 season, on Wednesday. “I know they are focussed on this Champions Cup game and I knew that in the back of their minds they were thinking about it, even while playing in the daCosta Cup semis. I think they were thinking a lot about that final.”

Dr Weatherly said maybe it is the tough game against Frome that will be what his team needed. “I was glad for this type of game now as it shows the boys they can’t rest and must get even more stuck in as we will be up against a Jamaica College team that is wounded as we were somewhat, but we prevailed and this will be a motivational factor for us.”

Cornwall College will be seeking to beat the fourth Manning Cup team in a row after beating Wolmer’s Boys’ on penalty kicks in the first round then dispatching Camperdown High and St George’s College, both by 2-0 margins, to set up today’s clash.

Jamaica College have scored 10 goals in their three games, as they beat Mile Gully 4-0 in the first round, came from behind to beat Holy Trinity 2-1 in the quarter-finals, then hammered St Elizabeth Technical High School 4-0 in the semi-finals last week.

Coach Andrew Peart said despite coming off a loss on Tuesday, that would not affect them today. “This team can do great things,” he told the Observer yesterday.

“A champion team never gives up and one loss is never fatal,” he said and promised his team will come out fighting, especially the players who will be playing in their final schoolboys’ football game.

Playing outside of Kingston for the first time this year is not an issue either. “The most important thing is that the team comes ready to play, we are not worried about the venue.”

Going up against what he described as “a quality Cornwall College team and their record shows it,” Peart said the job is to “be mindful of their qualities, but focus on our strengths”.

Norman Campbell is the key player for Jamaica College and if he plays well the team will play well and along with Earon Elliott have scored six of the 10 goals the team has netted so far.

Cornwall College’s Aiden Jokomba has also scored three goals in their games with Shavon McDonald and Matthew Thorpe getting the others.