St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) will be looking to honour the memory of one of their rising stars, Omar Laing, by lifting the ISSA Urban Area Under-16 football trophy when they go up against Kingston College (KC) in the final, starting at 3:00 pm at the Stadium East Field today.

Omar was killed last Friday on his 18th birthday and with the memories very fresh in their minds, STATHS earned a 3-0 win over Jamaica College (JC) on Monday to advance to today’s final.

Omar’s brother, Omari Laing, scored the second goal in the game on Monday and although too emotional to speak about his brother’s passing, did say that the goal he scored was dedicated to the memory of the STATHS Manning Cup #10.

Head Coach Phillip Williams said that there was very little he needed to do to motivate the boys for the semi-final.

“The memory of Omar is enough to give us motivation. He would like to see us out here playing football because it was his life, and it wasn’t hard for us to motivate them because they believed and they wanted to do this for Omar.”

Williams thought his boys turned in a near-perfect performance on Monday.

“It was a complete performance in all the departments. The backline was very solid, the midfield creative and up front was very clinical. There is no area that I could say was not performing.”

Williams believes his team has earner their spot in the final.

“We really worked hard to get here, and I think it’s the work that we put in a bearing fruit right now.”

STATHS will face a KC team in the final that waltzed their way to the semi-finals without conceding a goal.

KC’s first real test came in the semi-final against Wolmer’s on Monday when they were pushed all the way to penalties, but they managed to prevail 4-3 from the spot.

While they have had it mostly easy in winning seven of the eight games they have played, KC have not been clinical in front of goal as they have squandered many, many goals in their eight matches.

STATHS were clinical on Monday and are highly motivated and this will make them start as favourites to lift the title today. They have come close to winning the Manning Cup title twice in the last few years and will see the Under-16 title as worthy compensation this season, all things considered.

KC have their own motivation to chase the title today, as they will be looking to add the U-16 title to the Manning Cup and Olivier Shield that they snagged in January.

Raymond Watson, who was the assistant coach to Ludlow Bernard during the Manning Cup campaign this season, has won the Under-16 title on three occasions and will looking to add to his collections of winners’ medals.

“We have not conceded any goals from open play this season and we will be looking to replicate the performance of the 2018 team that went all the way and also won the all-island title without conceding,” Watson said.

His experience at this level should help him to prepare his team for the fight that they experience when they come up against the team from Bumper Hall.

Team talks and tactical adjustments could make the difference between winning and losing the title.