Spotlight on Champions Cup
Glenmuir, Clarendon College hunt first title of 2023 schoolboy season
Published:Saturday | December 2, 2023 | 12:07 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
THE FIRST title on offer in this year’s schoolboy football season will be decided today as the Andrew Peart-coached Glenmuir High will lock horns against the Lenworth Hyde-coached Clarendon College in the final of the 2023 ISSA Champions Cup set for the National Stadium. Kick off is set for 5 p.m.
Heading into the Clarendon derby, coach Peart stated that there’s an air of positivity around the team and he hopes the boys will perform at their best this evening.
“There’s a positive feeling, the team has done well to reach this far, but most of all the satisfaction hasn’t peaked as yet and going into this first final we want to perform at our best,” he stated.
Coach Peart added that he has full confidence in the level of talent within the Glenmuir team and revealed that the season so far has had a mixture of highs and season-defining moments.
“We know that our best is good enough to lift that trophy so it’s about getting that performance right. The season so far has been good, we’ve had a lot of lessons learnt, a lot of highs and what people consider setbacks we take as season-defining moments, and for us, we embrace those feelings and move forward knowing that we’re on the cusp of winning a title,” Peart explained.
Veteran coach Lenworth Hyde, leader of the Clarendon College team, stated that his team has done everything in preparation for the game and believes the team should give their ever-present supporters something to cheer about.
“The guys are upbeat and are just waiting on the time to come. As you can see the support is there as they’ve followed us all over the country, anywhere Clarendon College play we have our supporters. The players will have to go out there and deliver for them and that’s the focus,” he said.
Coach Hyde added that defensively the team will have to be disciplined to contend with a potent Glenmuir attack.
“You can’t slip up especially in the defensive end. We have to defend well as Glenmuir have some skilful players so we have to be very disciplined and try and prevent them from scoring,” Hyde remarked.
Clarendon have had the more impressive march to the final. In the quarter-finals they defeated St George’s College 3-1 before blanking Hydel High 2-0 in the semi-finals. Glenmuir clipped Mona High 1-0 in the quarter-finals then got past Kingston College on penalties after a 1-1 full-time draw.