It was quick, vicious, and more importantly, flawless.

If St George’s College were sending a message, then that message should have been received by now, as they marched into the semi-finals of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) All-Island Champions Cup knockout competition on the back of a 5-0 whipping of St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) on Saturday.

A brace from substitute Chantomoi Taylor (57th and 90th+1) led the way for St George’s College, who got the others from Konato Dunkley (43rd), Damani Harris (66th) and Emelio Rousseau (77th), as the “Light Blues” fittingly brought the curtains down on the quarter-final double-header at Stadium East.

The clinical victory by the 2015 champions saw them joining 2014 winners Jamaica College on course to become the first team to cop the All-Island knockout title twice.

St George’s College are set to face Cornwall College, who defeated Camperdown 2-0 in semi-final one, while JC and St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) — the latter were 2-1 winners over Charlie Smith — will meet in the other. Both games are scheduled for Friday at a venue to be announced.

With St George’s College’s Head Coach Neville “Bertis” Bell celebrating his birthday on Saturday, STATHS were intent on ensuring that it would not be a happy one. They went on the charge from the opening whistle with a marauding display which slightly forced the victors into a defensive posture for most of the first half.

Unfortunately for the Bumper Hall-based team, their intended party got spoilt two minutes before the break when Campbell fired home a beauty from a distance, notching his first goal of the season to put St George’s College 1-0 up.

The momentum stuck with the Light Blues on the resumption, and the introduction of Taylor in the 52nd minute added impetus to the attacking thrust as it took the young striker a mere five minutes to make his presence felt.

He finished off a brilliant solo effort three minutes before the hour mark and later broke down the defence before assisting Harris to secure his 14th goal of the season by simply tapping in from close range.

The wily Rousseau knows just when to spark some fireworks and he did just that with a peach of a strike from outside the 18-yard box, leaving young custodian Ricardo Laing with no chance.

And with STATHS at their mercy, Taylor returned to claim his 15th of the season by finishing of another solo effort to seal the five-star performance for the North Street-based team in time added.

Assistant Coach Marcel Gayle was impressed by the manner in which his team went about their business in ensuring that Bell had a memorable birthday.

“To God be the glory. I must say kudos to the team on the performance; it was a well-deserved victory. The guys played really well to hold their composure, because STATHS pushed us in the first half, but we kept focus and produced a fantastic performance, so congrats to the boys.

“I am more pleased by how we weathered the storm; STATHS came at us hard, but we showed courage from there and I think we found ourselves going forward. So to get five goals in a quarter-final game like this is a plus for us, so we are just going to go back and start preparing for the next game,” Gayle told the Jamaica Observer.

Meanwhile, Phillip Williams, head coach of STATHS, lamented his team’s defensive shape — or lack thereof.

“This is our first loss in full-time for two seasons, so it’s not something that we are familiar with. So obviously we are disappointed, especially going out at this stage. I think the young ‘keeper did well in goal; he was exposed too often by the defenders and as such conceded five goals.

“Had Jeadine [White] been here, maybe it would have been different, but it doesn’t matter how good of a ‘keeper you are, once you are exposed too often by your backline, then the scoreline would not have been much different. So we just have to regroup and refocus on the Manning Cup, which is our main objective, and try to do much better there,” he noted.