d’Cup Western Derby
MONTEGO BAY, St James – Western Jamaica will be represented in the semi-finals of the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association/Wata daCosta Cup football competition after former champions Cornwall College and Frome Technical were pitted against each other following Tuesday’s end of the quarter-final round.
They will meet in the semi-final on November 15, with the winners playing the victorious team of the other semi-final between Clarendon College and Dinthill Technical in the final set for December 1.
The venues of both the semi-final and final are yet to be announced by the organisers.
St James High and Petersfield High are to meet in the first round of the Ben Francis KO competition after they failed to finish in the top half of their quarter-final groups.
St James High were third in Group 2 with a single point, while Petersfield High lost all three games played in Group 3. Both are to meet on Wednesday, November 7.
On Tuesday Cornwall College, who won their record 12th title in 2016, beat Glenmuir High 1-0 at Jarrett Park to complete a perfect record in Group 4, winning all three games.
Meanwhile Frome Technical were rescued by a late penalty kick at Manchester High to win Group 1 on the second tiebreaker, scoring more goals than Mile Gully, who won the game 2-1. Both Frome and Mile Gully finished tied on six points and a goal difference of two.
Frome Technical won their two previous games in the round, edging Maggotty High 1-0 and beating Port Antonio High 3-1, but were facing a pesky Mile Gully team that had knocked out last year’s winners Rusea’s High in the second round.
Mile Gully lost their first game in the quarter-final with Port Antonio High, but rebounded to beat Maggotty High on Friday. They needed to beat Frome Technical by two goals to win the group and led 2-0 with a goal from Marlon Miller and a defender, and appeared well on their way to a first ever semi-final.
Late in the game, a penalty kick was awarded to Frome Technical after it was ruled that a Mile Gully defender had handled the ball in his own box. Giovauni Mittoo stepped up and buried the kick to get his team back into the semi-finals for the first time since the 2013 season.
At Jarrett Park, a 43rd-minute goal from Solano Birch was enough for Cornwall College as they saw off Glenmuir High, who have lost all their quarter-final games in the last two seasons. Glenmuir earned one point from their quarter-final games.