Jamaica College (JC) came, they saw and yet again they conquered the ISSA/FLOW Manning Cup competition.

Though it has become all too familiar for the Old Hope Road-based team, with this being their seventh title win in the last 10 years and 29th overall hold on the prestigious trophy, there was something special about this one for the ‘Dark Blues’.

Their 5-3 penalty shoot-out win over St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) in the final at the National Stadium on Friday saw them once and for all settling the score against their opponents, after playing out a 1-1 stalemate in full and extra time for the third time this season.

Shaneil Thomas scored for JC in the 29th minute, but David Smith equalised for STATHS in the 40th minute.

According to Head Coach Miguel Coley, who has been at the helm since 2013 when the reign started, the win also restored some dignity to the school, after their reaction at the end of their FLOW Super Cup semi-final defeat to Kingston College shone a negative light on them.

“It is special; five is significant in all means, so to win five with these boys means the world to me. I said before that I prefer lose my life than lose the Manning Cup….I was figuratively saying that though, but just to show them the importance of winning this title.

“I told them show your strength, every opportunity you get show your strength, and they did that. They concentrated for 90 minutes and more and were able to win the game,” Coley told journalists in a post-game interview.

“Adversity makes us stronger, but I don’t want to get into it. The ruling body had a right to do what they did and I am just happy that we won the trophy. I don’t even want to talk about that coach [Andrew] Peart has been fantastic to us and I think we have a fantastic team overall; I am just the face of it. But I am happy for them, I love them and I know they will do well in the future,” the tactician added.

JC would have entered the showpiece event as the overwhelming favourites, but like it was earlier in the season, the champions failed to really separate themselves from a gritty STATHS unit.

Despite conceding a soft equaliser, Coley believes his team did well to maintain their composure and pull it off in the dreaded penalty shoot-out.

“The second half and added time we did very well; we put the ball on the ground and passed it around. yes, we got some space, but defensively we didn’t have that as much and that is something that has been bothering and plaguing us for the season.

“But a win is a win. Congrats to them (STATHS), they are a tough team, they come out and were defensively vigilant and were organised. I know ‘Bigga’ [Oneil Thompson] from Arnett Gardens has something to do with it and the coach; congrats to him, Mr [Phillip] Williams, he did a fantastic job, but I am just happy to be the winner today (Friday),” a jubilant Coley noted.

When asked about his chances of taking up former Reggae Boyz Head Coach Winfried Schafer’s offer to join him at Iranian club Esteghlal, Coley’s only response was, “let’s see”, before he dashed off to join his team’s celebration.

Meanwhile, Captain Maleik Howell also hailed his team’s success, pointing out that they became hungrier inspite of the negative light.

“It feels great to win this fifth-consecutive title; it means a lot to us because for the past couple of games we have been viewed in a negative light with social media and so on.

“So this one really means a lot to us because we are turning the tables around and Jamaica College is now at the front page again,” Howell told journalists.

“We have a very experienced team and we are confident players, so in the game we know how to minimise pressure. So going into the penalty shoot-out, we were prepared for it because in the past previous training sessions we have been preparing for any scenario,” he ended.