Walker Cup opens with St Catherine derby

FOR THE third time in this schoolboy football season, a St Catherine derby will take place but this time, the implications are different, as St Catherine High School and St Jago High School try to get some silverware.

The 2022 Walker Cup begins this afternoon at 3 o’clock at the Spanish Town Prison Oval.

St Catherine are the reigning champions.

Both teams were denied passage to the Manning Cup quarterfinals in similar circumstances after the away goals rule played a part in their second-round ties. After winning their opening leg against Wolmer’s Boys 1-0 in Kingston, St Catherine could not keep them out in the return leg, losing 2-1 at the Prison Oval. St Jago were ousted in the reverse circumstances. They lost their opening leg to St Andrew Technical High School 2-1 but won the return leg 1-0, unable to get the second goal they needed to advance.

Both teams were drawn in the same group in the first round and split their previous two meetings with St Catherine winning the first game 1-0 in September and St Jago winning the return leg 2-1, despite playing with 10 men.

St Catherine will be without the services of Nickyle Ellis, a loss which has come at the worst time, according to head coach Anthony Patrick.

Patrick, though, says he hopes that his young core has what it takes to step up in his absence.

“That is a big blow for us but we are pretty young. So we are showcasing some youngsters and hopefully they can put up a good showing and get the job done,” Patrick told The Gleaner.

Although Patrick says that their past experience has given him an idea of what to expect, he is not taking anything for granted in his approach.

GOOD CHANCE

“There are things that we are going to expect but what we want to do is to control the middle of the park. Once we do that, we have a very good chance of winning that tie,” Patrick said.

While not much motivation was needed, St Jago head coach Garnett Lawrence said his team had been eyeing the opportunity to continue the work they had done in his first year as coach since the fixtures were released.

“They know what they need to do and I think they are highly motivated for this game more than the other ones,” Lawrence said.

“This season they have gotten the idea and the concept of how the coaches want to manage them and manage the game properly.”

St Jago won their only Walker Cup title in 2003.

daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com