After a three-year hiatus from the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association Manning Cup football competition, Greater Portmore High will be hoping for a positive result on their return when they take on Haile Selassie High in their opening match in Zone C.

The match will be played at Royal Lakes field starting at 3:30 pm.

“This is our return to the competition for the first time since 2019 and so we are starting with a young team with a few experienced players. We are just going to go out there and do our best and hopefully get a positive result,” said Shane Cunningham, the manager of Greater Portmore.

“We are assuming that Haile Selassie is the strongest team in the zone based on what they did last year, and so we know that they have a good experienced team and so it is good for us to go up against the strongest team in the zone at the start of the competition,” he said.

“We are also hoping that it will be a good test for us and so see where we will go where the zone is concerned and if we can get a point then that will be a good way for us to start the competition,” Cunningham, who said Greater Portmore had a relatively good pre-season, said.

Ira Hemmings, assistant coach of Haile Selassie, who were surprise quarter-finalists in last year’s competition, said his team is feeling confident heading into their opening match of the competition.

Hemmings told the Jamaica Observer they have retained 12 players from last year’s team.

“We will enter the competition with high hopes because we have done our pre-season work and the players are ready to go,” said Hemmings.

“My players are very confident because we are coming off a good performance in the STETHS Cup and so everybody is in good shape and are ready and raring to go,” he said.

In the zone’s other games, Denham Town High are to host Eltham High at Edward Seaga Sports Complex, and Johnathan Grant High welcome Dunoon Technical to their school base in St Catherine.