MONTEGO BAY, St James — Preseason favourites Dinthill Technical have been dealt a massive blow to their ISSA/Flow daCosta Cup ambitions with team leader Rodave Murray being ruled academically ineligible for the 2016 season that kicks off today.

Well-placed sources told the Jamaica Observer that Murray, who scored 26 goals in the daCosta Cup last year, only passed two subjects in the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams, and therefore has not qualified for 12th grade under ISSA rules, after repeating 11th grade last year.

The Observer has been told that Dinthill Technical have appealed the decision, but according to one source that spoke on the condition of anonymity: “They are wasting their time appealing (as) the rule is clear.”

Another source added that “the new ISSA Clearing House is making the decision now, so I can’t see how they will get around the rules”.

ISSA rules only allow student athletes to repeat each grade once and they must attain at least four CXCs to be eligible to participate in sports while in 12th grade.

The ISSA Clearing House, which mimics the American college vetting organisation for student athletes seeking to compete in sports in the National Collegiate Athletic Association system, is supposed to have got underway this year after it was first mooted just over a year ago.

Murray, who was a member of the National Under-20 team, was the main driving force behind Dinthill Technical’s best season in decades, only to come up short at the very end, losing in the semi-finals of the Ben Francis KO on penalty kicks and in the final of the daCosta Cup, both times to eventual double-champions St Elizabeth Technical High School.

The results saw the end of the coaching staff led by Anthony Patrick, who was let go at the end of the season and replaced by Kevin Williams — who has had stints with Clarendon College in the daCosta Cup — and with Sporting Central Academy in the Red Stripe Premier League.