Contrasting openers for defending d’Cup, Manning Cup champs

MONA HIGH School, defending champions of the ISSA Manning Cup, made an emphatic statement in their opening fixture of the competition yesterday at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

Clarendon College, defending daCosta Cup champions, started more sedately but also notched their first win of the season on opening day at the same venue.

Mona first thrashed Waterford High to kickstart their Zone B Manning Cup campaign and, according to head coach Craig Butler, the 7-0 drubbing was a clear indication of the strength of his team.

“The potential for defending our title is very strong. Many of our youngsters have come of age. Sean Leighton put on a display today, the entire team, quality,” Butler told The Gleaner.

“Waterford is not a bad team and is consistently a good team over the years. Seeing us score so many goals and have so many opportunities is a positive,” he added.

If Butler’s statement were to be considered conservative, then his assistant, Dane Peralto’s was, in a word, ominous.

“We were just trying to get the team going. If the goals came, the goals came. The boys executed fairly well and that is what we are working on – trying to get the system working completely.”

Mona’s Carlton Brown opened the scoring in the 18th minute and completed a brace in the 37th. Savi-K Morton scored in the 30th.

Goals kept coming and, in the 40th, Robino Gordon added to the tally before Alex Suazo’s 46th-minute effort. Some wonderful play in the middle of the park from Kishaine Gordon scythed open the Waterford defence to allow Denzel McKenzie a thumping finish in the 67th.

Clarendon College, who opened against Denbigh High in Group H, were made to work for their first three points, squeezing out a 2-1 victory in what many expected to be an easier fixture.

Clarendon’s Justin Hayles scored as early as in the fourth minute, while Terron Williams doubled the scoreline in the 24th from a corner.

That should have been game, set and match. However, an expectant crowd never saw the glut of goals that should have come, and the defending champions were put through a scare after Teyo Cross converted an 85th-minute penalty to make the game close toward the end.

Lenny Hyde, head coach of Clarendon College, said while a successful title defence would always be the aim of defending champions, his team is young and looking to rebuild.

“We going out there to give it our best shot. We have some inexperienced players but I wouldn’t want to use that as an excuse. We have to build this new set of players and the chemistry going forward,” Hyde said.

“I see some glimpses of it tonight in the match, so we have to continue playing. It is how you prepare now going forward, week by week, and you going to see players stepping up. You will see emerging players, and that, as a coach, you look forward to.”