Walker Cup semis: Excelsior, St Catherine clash in feature

St Catherine High School and Excelsior High are two evenly matched teams.

Even at the semi-final stage of the Walker Cup football competition, the teams have won the same number of games and have only been beaten two times. The two schools have scored more than 40 goals and conceded fewer than seven.

Both teams played out of Group E in the first round of the Manning Cup and were only troubled when they played against each other.

In the first leg, St Catherine blanked Excelsior 2-0, and in the return leg, Excelsior handed the school from St Johns Road their first defeat of the season, winning 2-1.

Excelsior, who last won the Walker Cup in 2008, are desperate to end their 10-year schoolboy football trophy drought.

"Winning the Walker Cup will be a catalyst to us getting back to where we used to be, so I hope we can win and go to the final and win again," said Excelsior coach Daniel Riley ahead of today's feature semi-final at the Spanish Town Prison Oval.

And St Catherine, whose trophy case is still empty, believe that they can change that this year.

"This is the first time we are reaching the semi-finals of the Walker Cup. The school has reached the semi-finals in the Manning Cup, and we want to compete for the trophy, but first we must approach this semi-final with a lot of intensity and zest, and if we are able to do that, then we can come out on top," St Catherine's coach, Anthony Patrick, said.

The match is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Spanish Town Prison Oval today. In the 1 p.m. curtain raiser at the venue, Hydel High will face Cumberland High.

Today's matches

1 p.m: Hydel High vs Cumberland

3 p.m: Excelsior High vs St Catherine High