Defending champs target positive start too

Andre Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

The 2010-2011 season of the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup is finally here, and all eyes will be on last season's all-conquering defending champions, St George's College, as they begin their quest for a third consecutive hold on the trophy when they tackle St Jago High at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay.

Both teams have journeyed to the Second City for what will be the curtain-raiser of the schoolboy football season, where they will perform the opening act of a triple-header, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Having secured the Manning Cup and Olivier Shield trophies last season, the St George's College contingent will be under pressure to deliver the goods once again, and are hoping to start the campaign on a winning note against their Spanish Town-based opponents.

Team manager Marcel Gayle is aware that his team will have to quickly get over the memories of last year's triumphs, but is confident that the determination to repeat last year's successes will act as added motivation to the North Street-based school.

"We are up to the challenge and in terms of motivation we know that we have to defend our titles, so that in itself is a big motivation for us," said Gayle.

The team will be missing the attacking dynamism of last year's star duo, Marvin Morgan Jr and McKaully Tulloch, along with Kavel Smith. However, with national senior team players - team captain Devon Williams and Oneil Fisher - still among the ranks, confidence is still high among the 'Light Blues'.

team effort

Gayle could not deny Fisher and Williams' expected impact, but stressed that they will be relying on a total team effort throughout the season, starting with today's clash against St Jago.

"They (Fisher and Williams) carry some added maturity, but each St George's College (team member) is always motivated by one another. The camaraderie in the camp is very strong. We are looking forward to having both of them, but it's a team effort and everyone will have to give a good account of themselves," Gayle pointed out. "They will make an impact but it's going to have to be a strong team effort."

St Jago's coach, Jermaine Thomas, is well aware of the task at hand, but is determined to lead his team to the first upset of the season.

"We are up for the challenge," Thomas said. "We know they are the defending champions but we are not going there to roll over and lay down. We are prepared to put up a fight and we are looking to play good football at the end of the day."

His charges will, however, be hard-pressed to do much damage and improve on last year's performance - when they missed second-round qualification by a point - especially considering that they have only managed to retain four players from last year's team.

"This year we want to take it game by game. We have our particular goals but for now we are looking to take it each game at a time," Thomas said. "It's going to be a complete team effort, there is no single player or any star player that we will be relying on, we are expecting everyone to put in the work."