All-Manning vs All-daCosta clash at Stadium East
Published:Saturday | January 13, 2024 | 12:07 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
With both coaching staffs mandated to give all players playing time in today’s All-Manning versus All-daCosta showdown, the coach of the All-daCosta outfit, Lenworth Hyde, said they will try to get the job done early.
Twenty-one players were named to the All-daCosta squad, while 20 were selected for the All-Manning.
Hyde has no issue playing all the players, but reasoned that too many substitutions can disrupt the flow of a team, as a result he wants to win the match early.
“It is going to be competitive. We want to win the match. They want all the players to play and I have no issue with it but that will disrupt the rhythm.
“We will try to get the cohesion early in the game. We will have to make the changes, so we will try to score and take an early lead,” he said.
Eight Clarendon College players have been named to the All-daCosta squad and Hyde said they will be key to how the team plays.
“Most of the players are from CC (Clarendon College) and Glenmuir. The others are from Garvey Maceo High, Dinthill Technical, Happy Grove High and Irwin High.
“We have tried to spread it (selection) out but the base of the team will come from Clarendon College. We want to keep that chemistry and try and win the game because we are defending our title,” Hyde said.
The Clarendon College coach said that the game remains important to rural fans who always enjoy revelling in victories over the urban teams, and he expects a tough match from the Craig Butler-prepared All-Manning team.
SIGNIFICANT FOR FANS
“This is significant for rural fans because the urban schools dominated the 1970s and 1980s but the rural schools and players are stepping up.
“This will be a spectacle for country and town spectators. Mr Butler will come with his thing. It will be intense but we want to enjoy it nevertheless,” he stated.
All-Manning coach Butler insists it is only fair that all the players take part in the prestigious match, and feels it will have less of a negative impact on his team.
“It will benefit us because overall we have a more rounded group of players. What is important is the team that starts gets the go-ahead, and the team that finishes should be strong enough to deliver,” Butler said.
He added that this is no glorified friendly for him, and he intends to return the trophy to the Corporate Area.
“The boys are ready and focused on the match. We have some solid players and once the boys are disciplined and stick to the task, we will get the better of the All-daCosta,” he said.
The game will be preceded by the All-daCosta Scholastic versus the All-Manning Scholastic at 3 p.m. The players on the ‘scholastic’ teams will be playing to impress scouts from US colleges who have flown into the island to seek talented players who have done very well academically.
The awards presentation for the 2023 schoolboy football season will take place at 5 p.m. and the feature event, the All-Manning versus All-daCosta, kicks off at 6:15 p.m.
Last year, the All-daCosta team won 3-2 on penalties after the teams were locked at 2-2 at the end of regulation time.