Frenzy as daCosta Cup returns with 81 rural teams

WESTERN BUREAU: The highly anticipated schoolboy football season returns today with rural Jamaica in a frenzy as the prestigious Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) daCosta Cup competition kicks off with 15 matches across six zones.

This will be the first full season since the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented the competition in 2020. Both the daCosta Cup and the urban area’s Manning Cup returned last year but with a truncated season.

The numbers in the rural area are back up to 81 from the 53 schools that contested the competition last year.

Defending champions Garvey Maceo will open their account against Kemps Hill in the featured rural area match at Sabina Park in Kingston. They will start as one of the expected favourites after winning the daCosta Cup with a squad that boasts quality players who also won the all-island Under-15 football competition in 2018.

Last year’s beaten finalist, Manning’s School will be looking to go one better this season and will kick off their campaign against Grange Hill High at the Belle Isle Community Centre in Westmoreland. They will also be banking on an excellent crop of young players who won the rural area Under-14 competition earlier this year.

Another title contender, St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) who boast five daCosta Cup titles, among other trophies, will visit Sydney Pagon Stem Academy for their opener this afternoon.

Last season’s semifinalist and two-time champions Dinthill Technical will travel to the Ewarton Sports Complex to battle Ewarton High at 3:30 p.m. They will be looking to end their four-decade drought after flattering to deceive in recent years.

MORE TIME TO PREPARE

The three schools with the most daCosta Cup titles, Cornwall College, Rusea’s High School and Clarendon College, will have more time to prepare to add to their trophy cabinet as they get their ball rolling early next week.

ISSA Champions Cup holders Clarendon College have signalled they want to regain the title they won back to back in 2018 and 2019 after they were eliminated at the semifinal stage last season. They will host Kellits in their first game next Saturday.

Twelve-time champions Cornwall College will be looking to shrug off last season’s quarterfinals elimination with a very young team and get back to the pinnacle with a now more mature squad. They will host Maldon on Wednesday.

Despite boasting 11 titles, Rusea’s have failed to get past the second round of the daCosta Cup since their title-lifting 2017 campaign. Last year they hit rock bottom with a first-round elimination. They will be looking to rescue their reputation this season and will open their account against Merlene Ottey High School at the Collin Miller Complex on Monday.