MONTEGO BAY, St James — Twelve-time champions Cornwall College completed the second round qualifiers for the ISSA daCosta Cup football competition after beating St James High 3-0 in their rescheduled Zone A game played at Jarrett Park on Thursday.

Goals from Mikhail Samuels, Tannoy Dunkley and Jadon Jumpp saw Cornwall College improve to 18 points, jumping ahead of Maldon High who had completed their schedule on Tuesday and joining zone winners Irwin High in the second round that starts on Friday.

Thursday’s game was only played because Maldon High had failed to beat St James High in their rescheduled game on Tuesday and left the door wide open for Cornwall College to take advantage.

Cornwall College’s coach Dr Dean Weatherly was a satisfied man following his team’s advancement.

“It’s definitely a big relief to get through to the second round,” Weatherly told OBSERVER ONLINE. “We were under a lot of pressure this season.”

He went on to express that while his team got “a chance to exhale”, they have only one day before their first leg game on Saturday.

“We have to start to re-planning the entire strategy moving forward but we only have one day and then we just have to win as we go along,” he said. “The planning starts tonight, we have to sit down and see where we can improve.”

Cornwall College made several changes to their regular starting team, including handing 13-year-old goalkeeper Carlyle Tingling his first start after he had played a few minutes against Anchovy High in the first round.

Weatherly said one of the big lessons that came from the win was “we tried out some new players and they handled the pressure well and we have to keep building on that.”

Samuels gave Cornwall College the lead in the 20th minute when his freekick from just outside the 18 yards area beat goalkeeper Daniel Gilpin.

Dunkley got his first daCosta Cup goal in time added at the end of the first half when he poked home the ball from close range after the St James High defence had failed to get it away.

Jumpp added a third in the 65th minute when he beat substitute goalkeeper Antwon Morris when he steered home a cross.

Thursday’s Result

Zone A

St James 0, Cornwall 3