North Street-based school clobber JC 4-0 to snatch away Flow Super Cup
ST George’s College gave Jamaica College (JC) a lesson in football to win the Flow Super Cup 4-0 at an absolutely packed National Stadium yesterday.
The irrepressible Alex Marshall led the onslaught with two goals in the 14th and 58th minutes for his 23rd goal of the season and his sixth in the competition which won him the Golden Boot award.
A fifth-minute penalty by Gregory Messam Jnr and a lovely free kick in the 53rd minute by Ronaldo Watson sealed a wonderful victory for a St George’s College team that looked to be in a class of their own.
For their masterful display, the ‘Light Blues’ from North Street pocketed a whopping $1m and an impressive trophy.
JC, the dethroned champions, walked away with $375,000 that they accumulated for their three wins and second place.
It was the first Super Cup victory for Neville Bell, one of the most successful coaches in schoolboy football, having won five Manning Cup titles. Apparently overjoyed with emotions, Bell was not seen after the final whistle as his team celebrated in style.
It was another miserable night for JC’s Head Coach Miguel Coley inside the National Stadium after guiding Jamaica’s senior team to a 0-2 defeat to Panama in their World Cup qualifier on Friday night.
Coley said it was the Alex Marshall factor that determined the outcome of the game, and that they were beaten by the better team on the day.
“We had applied a man marker on him, and for the first goal he got away from the man and got a penalty. The second one, he was able to get some space at the far post and then the last one, our player got a red card and they scored from the free kick,” said Coley.
“He is a very difficult player to contain and very hard for any one player to do,” added the JC coach.
Ajeanie Talbott was given that challenging task and he picked up his second yellow card in the 52nd minute after clattering into Marshall.
But by then the game was as good as over. St George’s College were already two goals up after Marshall got away from his marker Talbott and earned a penalty in the fifth minute. He then popped up at the back post and fired home the second.
The break couldn’t have come at a better time for JC when the lights went out and it seemed it would have been a reprieve for JC. But it was just the beginning of a wonderful half-time entertainment package as the stadium illuminated with Flow signs.
The party had just begun. Flow’s marching band and dancers dressed in light blue tops and black and white bottom gave the spectators a lot to cheer about.
A massive flag wishing fans a Merry Christmas was unveiled before entertainer Busy Signal stepped out in black to raise the decibel levels.
“A yah so them fi pick the Reggae Boyz from,” said Busy Signal, as the stadium erupted into whistles and the blowing of vuvuzelas, apparently in agreement with his message. Firecrackers exploded in the skies as if it was Independence Day celebration, but is was just Flow at its brilliant best. It was certainly more than the normal 15-minute break, but no one seemed to care too much.
On the resumption, there was a hush around the stadium as the inspirational Messam Jnr hobbled out on the shoulders of his Coach Bell and he was replaced by the talented Akeem Shelton.
But those fears were quickly laid to rest as JC’s hard-tackling Talbott picked up his second yellow after clattering into the wily Marshall, who was actually going away from goal. But it was pure frustration for Talbott, who seconds earlier, was turned inside out by Marshall.
Then to make matters worse, a former JC player, Watson, brilliantly curled in the resulting free kick to make it 3-0 in the 53rd minute.
Ironically, Watson was one of three players who made the switch from JC, reportedly in search of first team football. The others are Dominic James, who is a tower of strength in the central midfield, and reserve goalkeeper Cyle Elliott.
Not to be outdone, just five minutes later, Marshall added his second goal, expertly playing a one-two with Shelton and firing home from an angle.
It was pandemonium inside the National Stadium before the rains came and cooled the red hot St George’s College in the 70th minute.
So once again the sword-wielding Knights, Saint George’s, prevailed as they slaughtered the Jamaica College Griffins. Certainly that battle will continue.
Meanwhile, Wolmer’s Boys’ grabbed third spot after defeating St Jago High 2-1 to pocket $175,000.
Stuart Payne opened the scoring for Wolmer’s in the 20th minute before Andrew Daley equalised for St Jago in the 71st minute. However, just seconds later, Delano Smith found the clincher in the 72nd minute for Wolmer’s.