St Andrew, Holmwood shoot for title

Raymond Graham, Gleaner Writer

Having claimed their first hold on the Corporate Area senior title a week ago, the Jennifer Brown-coached St Andrew High will be looking to go one step further when they take on many-time champions Holmwood Technical in the Digicel Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) senior netball final today at Manchester High School, starting at 2 p.m.

This game will be preceded by the junior final, in which rural champions Manchester High will take on Corporate Area winners St Hugh's High at 1 p.m.

New champions will be crowned as junior champions The Queen's School were beaten in the Corporate Area semi-final by St Catherine High, while senior champions Denbigh High were beaten by Holmwood Technical in the rural equivalent.

After pulling off two big wins by beating favourites Queen's in the Corporate Area semi-final and taking care of St Catherine High in the final, St Andrew's Brown says they have a good chance.

"Our chance of winning our first all-island title is good. I have seen Holmwood play twice and we know where their stengths and weaknesses lie, and we are hoping to get a good start and take it from there. Once our players stick to the game plan there should be no problem as St Andrew play basic netball," said Brown.

Brown thinks they have the player to counter Holmwood's national senior representative, Deneen Taylor.

Pushing for victory

"I think they will be using their tall players like Deneen to push for victory and she is very good inside the circle, but our national player Dhanyeal Johnson will be used as a marker for Taylor as she is also a tall player," said Brown, whose team also includes solid goal keeper Azeezi McCarthy.

Reaching this stage of the competition is not new for Holmwood, who are coached by Carlene Graham Powell. The Manchester institution, which is based in Christiana, are five-time all-island champions.

"We know what to do to win at this level as we have been five-time winners, and although we have not seen St Andrew play we are just going to do what we have to do," she said.

"We have the experience of Deneen in our line-up, but this is a team thing and we will be relying on team effort to pull off victory, and we are extremely confident," added Graham Powell, who thinks playing at Manchester High will be a big advantage for her team.