MONTEGO BAY, St James — With the Ben Francis Knockout title safely tucked away in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth Technical High (STETHS) turn their attention to retaining the ISSA/LIME daCosta Cup this afternoon when they take on Dinthill Technical in the semi-finals at Jarrett Park, starting at 3:00 pm.

STETHS are coming off a tough Ben Francis KO final where they beat Glenmuir 1-0 after dispatching Clarendon College on penalty kicks in the semi-finals.

Dinthill Technical, however, did not get past the semi-finals of the knockout competition, losing to Glenmuir High, but both schools claim they have put that competition behind them and the focus today will be on the bigger prize — the daCosta Cup.

STETHS will start favourites to qualify for next weekend’s final, but coach Omar Wedderburn says they will have to earn it and his players were focused.

“The Ben Francis competition is behind us now and the focus must be on the daCosta Cup,” he told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

“We are not in any celebratory mood right now as we have not won anything in the daCosta Cup yet and that must be the focus.”

He admitted, however, that the two games in the Ben Francis KO were good preparation for today. “Quality games are good and we had two very good games to help us get ready for the daCosta Cup semis. Dinthill are in it to win it just like we are and we can’t look past them,” Wedderburn added.

Scoring has been a problem for STETHS of late, and after setting the competition on fire earlier, the pair of Donjay Smith and Jovoney Brown have cooled off and STETHS have scored just two goals in regulation time in their last four games.

It took a goal from midfielder Travar McCollough in the Ben Francis KO final to give them the edge and STETHS will be hoping that playing in Montego Bay will wake up their sleeping giants.

Dinthill Technical, two-time winners of the daCosta Cup but returning to the semi-finals for the first time since 2004 when they were beaten by Glenmuir, believe they are up to the task today.

Everton Burke, a member of the management team, says they will use the lessons learned from the loss to help them get to the final.

“This will be a different game from the one we played in the Ben Francis KO final,” he said. “We made some mistakes then, but we will fix them now; the players are much more focused on what they have to do,” he added.

Rodave Murray has been the point man for Dinthill all season and will be the backbone of their attack, but Andre Beckford, Zachary Brown and Rujae Jackson could spring a surprise if the STETHS defence is not on top of their game.