SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Jamaica’s Under-23 camp is still celebrating after advancing to the next stage of Olympic qualifiers.

The junior Reggae Boyz will leave the Dominican Republic in high spirits, but in just over a month’s time they will have to shake their merry mood and turn their attention to the next stage of CFU qualifiers in August.

At the completion of the CFU round, the top-two teams from the Caribbean will qualify for the CONCACAF Olympic Tournament slated for October where they will want to surpass expectations and be the first Jamaican team to qualify for the Olympics.

The top-two teams from the CONCACAF stage plus another team from the play-offs will then represent the country at next year’s Olympic Games in Brazil.

The Boyz showed little mercy scoring 10 goals in two games, when they dispatched St Lucia 6-1, and followed up on that performance with an emphatic 4-0 whipping of the hosts on Sunday.

And despite the admitted low level of fitness and lack of tempo, the Jamaicans were still able to assert a level of authority over obviously weaker opponents.

Among the positives, they were thought to have exhibited stout defending, which spoke volumes in them conceding only one goal, while slamming 10.

Also, their passing game and speed in attack also came in for commendation, but equally the coaching staff would have loved to see more composure in front of goal.

“The performance was basically up and down, but the opponents didn’t have much to offer in offence and our defensive unit was basically on a stroll. However, the offence of our unit was pretty much sharp and it could have been more but you will have to give thanks,” said assistant coach Jerome Waite.

Captain Omar Holness, who led Jamaica’s team to the Under-17 World Cup in Mexico in 2011, was ecstatic, and lauded his team for an outstanding performance despite the many setbacks over the one-week period.

“We were very confident into this qualifying round and we had the belief that we would qualify and we would take care of business. I believe that they went out there and they stuck to the game plan, obeyed the coaches’ orders and it showed in the scorelines,” he noted.

Junior Flemmings was delighted with the team’s progression.

“It is a great feeling… to be among a bunch of guys that want to achieve greatness and this (qualifying to next stage) will help to uplift me even more. My goal is always to help my teammates… I always strive to be a team player, so I am just going to take it from here and let everything fall in line,” he said.

Overseas-based Sean McFarlane, who was instrumental in the team’s victory over Dominican Republic scoring a sublime goal and assisting another, was modest in response.

“I didn’t go into the game to be the Most Valuable Player (MVP); I went in to help my team to the next round and we did it as a team,” said McFarlane.

For centre-back Damion Lowe, who marshalled the defensive line, it was a job well-done, despite not facing any high-quality opponents.

“I think it was a great team effort; we stuck to the plan, followed the coaches instructions and we went through both games without putting a foot wrong and that was good. My teammates at the back worked really hard right through.

“It is always great to wear the national colours and come out victorious and also create history. So it is one step at a time — we cleared this hurdle and we have another round to play so hopefully everything works out well when we step up our play,” the 22-year-old son of former national striker Onandi Lowe said.