Cornwall ease into daCosta second round
Western Bureau:
Dr Dean Weatherly, coach of Cornwall College, says a weight is off their shoulders after they qualified for the second round of the ISSA/Digicel daCosta Cup football competition with a 3-0 win over St James High School at Jarrett Park yesterday.
“It’s definitely a relief, it’s like a ton of bricks has come off the shoulders,” Weatherly said.
“It was a fairly nice game. One of those where we had to apply ourselves properly and I guess the boys knew the importance of it so they got into the frame of mind,” he added.
Cornwall went into the contest needing a win to qualify ahead of Maldon High that had squandered their opportunity on Tuesday with a draw in a must-win game.
Mikhail Samuels gave Cornwall the lead in the 20th minute before Tannoy Dunkley gave them a 2-0 cushion going into the break striking four minutes into first-half stoppage time.
The 12-time champions sealed the win in the 65th minute when Jadon Jumpp scored.
Weatherly said the inconsistent season is not being seen as a negative at Cornwall but rather a test they have passed, and this has prepared them for the gruelling knockout round.
“We just have to keep on building and look ahead. For me, this is where the daCosta Cup really starts, and the preliminary games should prepare us for what is ahead. Now that we have been through the storms, we can only go up right now and we will get that into the boys,” Weatherly said.
“It (coming through a crucial match) will definitely be a motivational factor for us. The sky is the limit now,” he added.
With 21 daCosta Cup titles between them, 12-time champions Cornwall are drawn to play Vere Technical in the second round, starting with the first leg at Glenmuir High on Saturday. Despite not winning the competition in some 41 years, the Clarendon-based Vere will rate their chances against an inconsistent Cornwall who last won the competition in 2016.
Today’s games (Second round)
Seaforth vs York Castle at York Oval
Holmwood vs STETHS at Brooks Park
Charlemont High vs Mannings at Dinthill Tech grounds
St Mary Tech vs Clarendon College at Westmoreland Oval
Browns Town High vs Dinthill Tech at Drax Hall
deCarteret College vs Garvey Maceo at Brooks Park
The Holmwood, STETHS match kicks off at 1 p.m. All other games kick off at 3 p.m.