MUNRO College and Merl Grove High registered identical 1-0 victories to retain their 2019 Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) High School boys’ and girls’ Under-16 hockey titles at Mona Hockey Turf last Friday.

The St Elizabeth-based Munro College clipped Campion College through a second-minute goal from Liam Elliott in the Boys’ League final, thus avenging a 2-0 defeat by the previously unbeaten Campion College in the preliminary rounds.

Merl Grove, through a 28th-minute goal from Lianna Squire, squeezed out a hard-fought 1-0 win over Denbigh High in the Girls’ League final. It was the second meeting between both teams, with Merl Grove winning the first game 3-1.

Jonathan Dixon, coach of Munro, said that his objective was to retain the title and that was important.

“The players got lots of scoring opportunities but did not capitalise, but nevertheless they scored the all-important goal to come out victorious,” Dixon said.

The Munro coach credited Campion College as a very good tactical and technical team which played extremely well, but said that Munro played very well to stave off their spirited challenge.

Devon Reid, coach of Campion College, said the team had more possession of the game than Munro but the players failed to convert their opportunities.

“They produced a critical mistake early in the first half of the game that allowed Munro to take the lead. Many scoring chances were created but the forwards let us down,” Reid said. However, he conceded that Munro are a very good team that played well, and were more prepared mentally and physically to win the game.

Meanwhile, Annmarie Smith, coach of Merl Grove, said the victory was something they had planned for.

“It was a tough match for the players, who did not have any time to warm-up as they arrived a little late and had to go straight into the game. The players were also a bit jet-lagged, as they returned from a tournament in New York on Tuesday and played their semi-finals on Wednesday,” Smith said.

“We know that Denbigh is a fast-playing, attacking team, and I commend them for giving us a tough, challenging game — as it was one of the hardest we have played this season and the only team to have scored a goal against us,” she added.

In the semi-finals of the boys’ league played on Wednesday, Munro College clipped Kingston College (KC) 1-0, while Denbigh also scored a 1-0 win over Excelsior High in the girls’ section. Both KC and Excelsior were unbeaten during the preliminary round. KC did not concede a goal until losing to Munro College in the semis.

In the other semi-final in the boys’ section, Campion College whipped Papine High 5-0, while Merl Grove crushed Alpha Academy 5-0 in the other girls’ semi-final, with a hat-trick from Shaniqua Reid in the 13th, 19th, and 29th minutes. Jessie Freeman and Latoya Sanchez scored the other two goals in the 26th and 28th minutes, respectively.

Meanwhile, KC, and Excelsior High gained walkovers as both Papine High and Alpha Academy reported late for their boys’ and girls’ third-place play-off matches.