St Catherine High top First Half Only 45 Football Extravaganza

St Catherine High were crowned the first champions of the First Half Only 45 Football Extravaganza at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Saturday night.

The Spanish Town-based school blanked Manchester High 3-0 in the final.

In a nail-biting sudden-death penalty shoot-out, St Catherine defeated Cornwall College 7-6 in the semi-finals to advance.

Manchester cruised into the final with a 3-1 victory over Rusea’s High in their semi-final.

In the final St Catherine High got their goals from Dwight Gentles in the eighth and 45th minutes. Telvin Grey got the other goal for the winners in the 31st minute.

The football tournament ended minutes before midnight, but the very energetic patrons showed no signs of drowsiness as they kept cheering on the teams they came to support.

Anthony Patrick, head coach of St Catherine High, was happy his players got the job done.

“The competition is a great one. It is pleasing to know that we played well and won the title. I feel elated, but it is more for the youngsters, not for myself. I have won other titles. Before tonight, these youngsters had not won anything. It is a young squad, so this will boost their confidence going forward. It is important that we win every tournament and every practice match.”

Donovan Duckie, head coach of Manchester High, said preseason is good for the players.

“We played against a high-quality team that is very technical on the field. Their fast ball movements troubled us, but we had our moments and our chances, but we didn’t take them, and a few errors cost us the game. In the end, we can take away a lot of positives because sometimes it’s not the result that matters, but we also look at the lessons. It’s preseason and the lessons are clear, so we have some work to do before the (daCosta Cup) season kicks off,” Duckie said.

St Catherine High’s goalkeeper, Omarion Brown, was crowned the Most Valuable Player at the tournament.

The winning team pocketed a $500,000 cheque. Six schools - St Catherine High, Rusea’s High, William Knibb High, Cornwall College, Manchester High, and Irwin High - competed in the extravaganza.