WHILE the winners of the major leagues in Europe have already popped champagne bottles in celebration, the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) comes to an end tonight with Jamaica’s top two teams battling for the right to be called 2013-2014 champions.

Fans of Waterhouse FC, by a distance the most consistent club this season, and of Montego Bay United, the standard bearers of rural Jamaica, will be bracing for what promises to be a pulsating championship clash at the National Stadium, starting approximately 8:30. Both teams were worthy winners in the semifinal stage.

Montego Bay, pitted against last season’s champions Harbour View, drew 2-2 away from home and then returned to the comfort of WespoW Park to outplay their opponents in a 1-0 win.

Having not won the national title since the 1996- 97 season when they were named Seba United, the MoBay fans, mostly from their base in western Jamaica, are eagerly awaiting this generally young, sparkling and hardworking bunch to get it right.

In the opposite corner is Waterhouse, a team consisting of unrelenting attacking players, and a usually sound defensive system.

Those characteristics were evident in the 2-1 victory at Arnett Gardens FC in the secondleg semi-final after the teams ended 3-3 at the Drewsland Stadium in leg one.

Waterhouse were last national champions in the 2005-06 campaign, but an unbeaten streak stretching 20 games, which included their table-topping position which gave them a mini-title as preliminary stage champions. The intrigue will not be limited to the field of play. Both teams’ dugouts possess men with respectable coaching credentials.

Waterhouse have been nothing short of sensational since employing — in the middle of the season — the services of head coach Anthony Patrick, a man with a strong record at the schoolboy level.

At the helm of Montego Bay United, there is the shrewd veteran Dr Dean Weatherly. He has enjoyed success up and down the football landscape and their resurgence in form since he joined half-a-dozen matches ago, suggests the team is heading in the right direction.

Patrick’s team hold the advantage due to their enviable record and the coach conceded there is some degree of pressure to win after such a run since the turn of the year.

“We are happy we are here, but we have to dig deep to get over the line. It means a lot to get it together and take this title. The entire staff has been outstanding all season for us to have had this success, so we want to top it off.”

Despite nothing separating the clubs in their three meetings during the preliminary stage, Patrick said his team has the beating of the St Jamesbased outfit. “We are not worried about Montego Bay because we beat them once, they beat us once and we have also drawn a game, so this is it,” Patrick added.

Dr Weatherly told the Jamaica Observer that the tag of underdogs could work in his team’s favour.

“I don’t mind us being underdogs and for us it could be a motivational factor. They [Waterhouse] may get comfortable hearing they are the favourites.” For a club with a rich tradition, but one that has endured a barren spell for almost two decades, this final means a lot.

“It’s going to be a very big game, especially for the history of the club. We have to refocus after the game on Sunday [second-leg semifinal versus Harbour View]. The preparation has been intense, but that has been more physical than mental,” Dr Weatherly said.

While Waterhouse used pace to rattle Arnett Gardens, the Montego Bay coach suggested his team has the legs to match such a ploy.

“Our game is a running game and that is one of our main strengths.” Both coaches have talked the talk; however, when the final whistle goes at the National Stadium tonight, only one can walk the walk. And with the winning trophy raised above his head.