Defending champions Clarendon College and former winners Glenmuir High set up an all-Clarendon final in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Wata daCosta Cup football competition after scoring penalty shoot-out wins over Garvey Maceo High and Dinthill Technical in respective semi-final matches on Saturday.

Clarendon College beat parish rivals Garvey Maceo 4-3 on penalties after they had finished 1-1 in their game at Glenmuir High in May Pen.

Glenmuir returned to the final for the first time since 2012 with a 4-2 penalty kick victory over Dinthill Technical after playing out a 0-0 scoreline at Manchester High in Mandeville.

The goals in the game at Glenmuir High came from the penalty spot with Malachi Douglas giving Clarendon College the lead seven minutes into time added at the end of the first half before Cleo Clarke equalised in the 76th minute.

Clarendon College’s win avenged their loss in the 2021 semi-finals to Garvey Maceo, the last game they lost in the daCosta Cup. Their unbeaten run in the daCosta Cup stands at 37 games dating back to last season. It was the second time this season that Clarendon College had failed to win a game in normal time after they had ended 1-1 against Cornwall College in a Round of 16 match.

Both Clarendon College and Glenmuir High had gone into the games as favourites but were made to work for everything. In the end they had to depend on the lottery of the penalty shoot-out to stay alive in the competition.

Clarendon College rolled the dice in their game, bringing on reserve goalkeeper Lydel Rodney for the regular starter Roshae Burrell and it paid dividends.

Rodney saved Garvey Maceo’s third kick, taken by the usually clinical Clarke to give his team the edge, while Omarion O’Brian missed the fifth kick.

Lenworth Hyde, the Clarendon College coach, said afterwards they had been practising penalties for months. He added that it was the suggestion of the goalkeeper coach Kemar Foster to make the change at the end of full time, given Rodney’s performances during practice.

Merron Gordon, the Garvey Maceo coach, said despite the loss, his players had executed well but they were up against a good team.

Dinthill ended the season with three-straight losses after they were beaten 1-2 by B B Coke High in their final daCosta Cup quarter-final stage game and also by Kingston College in their ISSA Champions Cup game on Tuesday.

Dinthill missed their first two penalties and it was downhill from there as Glenmuir High held on to win and advance.

Both Clarendon College and the Andrew Peart-coached Glenmuir could set up a second final appearance in the Champions Cup. They will feature in separate semi-finals on Tuesday when Clarendon College take on Hydel High and Glenmuir High meet Kingston College.