SANTA CRUZ, Jamaica — Kingston College (KC) took their 10th hold on the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association all-island Olivier Shield football title after beating Garvey Maceo High 2-0 in the one-off contest on Saturday.

After Garvey Maceo were wasteful in front of goal at St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex, KC’s Luis Watson opened the scoring with a header in the 44th minute.

Jemone Barclay’s close-range strike made it 2-0 in minute 54.

And though Garvey Maceo toiled gallantly to get back into the game, they hardly troubled KC aside from a few sparks of brilliance from the industrious Cleo Clarke.

Victory gave North Street-based Kingston College their first hold on the all-island title since 1986.

Garvey Maceo, located in Clarendon, had won the daCosta Cup for only the second time in the school’s history two weeks ago, sweeping aside the Mannings School 5-0.

But they are still to lift the Olivier Shield — failing in the one-off clash for a second time after previously losing to Jamaica College in 2007 — and were way off their best against KC on Saturday.

They were without their Head Coach Merron Gordon, who is on international duty in his role as assistant coach for the Jamaica’s senior team, and this season’s top goal scorer Gregory Cousins, who is off to study overseas.

KC Head Coach Ludlow Bernard, who also guided his players to the 2021-22 urban area Manning Cup title after they beat Jamaica College on penalty shoot-out after the teams were locked 1-1 regulation at the end of regulation, was pleased to win the double.

“We’re happy, though it was probably not the best of games… I think the boys were a bit over cautious,” he told the Jamaica Observer during a post-match interview.

“The resolute spirit of the players to make those tackles and intercepting goal-bound shots epitomised the work of this team throughout the course on the season,” Bernard said.

Dane Chambers, the Garvey Maceo assistant coach, was not overly disappointed despite the loss.

“We dominated the first half, but they scored against the run of play, and the time of the goal, I think it hurt us a lot,” he told the Observer.

“We knew that Cousins would have been missed, but I think the players did well under the circumstances and it was a very good season for us,” Chambers explained.

In mostly sunny afternoon conditions at the venue, the Garvey Maceo team had a spirited start in the matchup to decide the all-island schoolboy football kingpins.

But the daCosta Cup winners were not able to convert from at least three gilt-edged chances on offer.

The KC outfit, which had gradually come into its own, made the best of the let-offs as half-time approached.

Watson applied the finishing touch, going near post to flick home from Barclay’s corner kick on the cusp of the break.

Garvey Maceo’s Jelani Williams got the chance to level the score going into the interval, but he skewed his close-range effort just wide.

KC, again, made their opponents pay, this time in the second half.

Barclay got his name on the score sheet, casually stroking the ball into the goal after the Garvey Maceo goalkeeper Junior Stone parried Christopher Pearson’s cross into his path.

From there it was smooth sailing for Kingston College despite Garvey Maceo’s expected late rally.