‘Hard done’ Mona determined to win Walker Cup title

Technical Director of defending champions Mona High School, Donovan Duckie, says the institution is determined to retain their ISSA/Walker Cup knockout title this year for ailing head coach Craig Butler.

Mona marched into the final of the competition with an exciting 3-2 victory over Charlie Smith at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex yesterday.

Franklyn Mitcham (38th), Savi-K Morton (42nd), and Joenaldo Payne (59th) were the goalscorers for Mona. Charlie Smith’s goal were scored by Orlando Grant in the 39th minute and Anthony Bryan in the 45th minute.

Duckie says Butler, who led the Mona to their first Manning Cup in 2023, is currently admitted in the hospital, and therefore they are focused on retaining their title for him.

“It is very important that we win this title because we felt that we were ‘hard done’ in the Manning Cup, and so we set out that we want to win this trophy,” said Duckie.

“We want also to win for Craig Butler, who is in the hospital right now.”

“So we did our analysis on Charlie Smith and we understand how compact and confident they were in their hometown, and so we knew it was going to be very tough for us; but we did what we had to do and we are now in the final,” Duckie said.

Mona will face St Catherine in the final of this year’s competition.

St Catherine were led to a similar 3-2 victory over Kingston College (KC), courtesy of a brace from Dwight Gentles. Gentles netted his goals in the seventh and 69th minutes.

Kadean Young also scored for St Cathrine in the 44th minute.

KC’s goals were scored by Kajay Fletcher in the 45th and Jamal Fraser in the 85th.

In the game between Mona and Charlie Smith, both teams exchanged shots in the opening minutes of the game, but Mona first hit the target when Mitcham struck home a powerful right-footed shot past goalkeeper Julis Clarke.

However, Charlie Smith responded immediately when Grant tapped in the equaliser a minute later for his team.

Mona, who were much more confident on the ball than Charlie Smith throughout the first half, scored their second goal of the game when Morton collected a pass out of the midfield inside the 18-yard box before turning away from his marker to fire home past Clarke.

Charlie Smith levelled again on the stroke of half-time, with Bryan firing home an 18-yard thunder bolt past custodian Howard Robinson against the run of play.

Mona dominated the second half, creating a number of open chances but failed to convert.

Payne, who had an excellent game for Mona, netted the winning goal when he arrived in the centre of the box to fire home another powerful strike past Clarke.