THE boys from Old Hope Road, Jamaica College (JC), cemented their dominance in schoolboy football on Saturday as they edged Charlie Smith to retain the ISSA/LIME Manning Cup title.

Charlie Smith had defeated high-flying Wolmer’s Boys 1-0 on their way to the finals, while Jamaica College stunned Camperdown High 4-2 in a thriller.

The encounter promised to be a keenly contested affair as the talismanic captain Junior Flemmings of JC faced the vivacious Bebeto McDonald of Charlie Smith. Charlie Smith looked to oppose JC’s title defence and end their 19-year drought for the Under-19 title.

The first-half displayed a shadow of the teams’ attacking prowess as they both failed to hit the net.

In a performance reminiscent of last year’s finals, JC was dominated by Charlie Smith in the opening stanza.

Flemmings got the chance to put his team ahead in the early stages, but his goal-bound header was well saved by Charlie Smith’s custodian Leon Taylor at full stretch.

At the other end, Bebeto McDonald and Anthony Thompson failed to capitalise on good build up play with the JC goal at their mercy.

The second-half brought the game to life and the National Stadium erupted in the 60th minute when national youth representative, Junior Flemmings, capitalised on an error by Charlie Smiths’ central defenders.

Flemmings escaped with the ball and slotted it past an advancing Taylor in the Charlie Smith goal to put the defending Champions 1-0 up.

Charlie Smith’s ‘never say die’ attitude led them to push for an equaliser, and in the 79th minute the Jerome Waite-coached team was rewarded for their efforts.

Their leading man, Bebeto McDonald curled an absolute beauty past a well-beaten Dowdie in Courtney Dowdie’s goal from 20 yards out.

With both teams level after 90 minutes, the nail biting encounter was sent into extra time.

The ‘dark blues’ gained a man advantage after Charlie Smith’s Lennon Cameron inevitably picked up a second yellow card. The defender’s boot was found in the chest of the advancing JC player, which led to his ejection.

Striker Rafique Bryan stood over the resulting right sided free kick as he looked to put the ball into a crowded penalty box.

His free kick, bound for the near post, was deflected to the far post leaving a helpless Taylor to watch the ball ripple in his net.

This sent the dark blue fans into frenzy and with the one-man advantage the defending champions were able to hold off the efforts of Charlie Smith for the remainder of the match.

The boys from Old Hope Road lifted the coveted Mortimer Geddes Trophy for the 25th time and are on course to win all four titles on offer.

With the LIME Super Cup and the Manning Cup already in their cabinet, the dark blues will look to add to their riches when they face St George’s College for the Walker Cup later this week.

They also have the OIivier Shield to contest with the pending winner of the daCosta Cup.

Miguel Coley is confident in his team’s ability and congratulated them for a championship performance while he credited Charlie Smith for a spirited display.

— Mikhail Palmer