THE Under-19 2023 schoolboy football season ended on a high Wednesday.

Regardless of loyalties, football lovers could only admire as all-rural daCosta Cup champions Clarendon College showed off immense talent, style, and verve to beat urban-based Manning Cup champions Mona High 4-0 and win the all-island Olivier Shield.

Without doubt, Mona High — seeking their first Under-19 all-island schoolboy football title — were worthy, despite the wide margin at the final whistle.

However, Clarendon College simply looked the best schoolboy football side in the country.

Clearly stung by a 2-3 defeat to outstanding, fellow Clarendon team Glenmuir High in the Champions Cup final two weeks ago, Clarendon College were unstoppable in the daCosta Cup final, beating the same opponents 6-2.

They took that dominant form into the Olivier Shield.

Clarendon College, Glenmuir High, and Mona High apart, congrats are also due to McGrath High and Jamaica College for winning second-tier knockout titles, Ben Francis Cup (rural) and Walker Cup (urban), respectively.

Overall, the standard of football at the Under-19 level pleased this newspaper. It bodes well for the future, we think.

Coaches and their technical assistants deserve credit. None more so than the coach of Clarendon College Mr Lenworth Hyde whose body of work since he took over at that school more than matches his immense contribution as a player 40-odd years ago.

For older Jamaicans, the football played by Mr Hyde and his Clarendon College teammates under the guidance of legendary coach Mr Winston Chung Fah in 1977, sweeping all before them, is a much-prized memory.

To Mr Hyde’s eternal credit, his football as coach mirrors that wonderfully artistic, yet constructive pattern of decades ago.

With all-island Under-14 and Under-16 finals at Stadium East field set to bring the football season to a formal end today, we believe Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), which organises school sports, deserves applause for a job well done.

Of course the Under-19 season wasn’t all hunky-dory. Weather, not least lightning, caused scheduling issues in September and October.

More recently, ISSA President Mr Keith Wellington was at pains to make it clear that crowd exuberance and indiscipline, which led to the postponement of the Manning Cup presentation to Mona High, are unacceptable.

He is correct. However, there are many among us old enough to have witnessed much, much worse.

We strongly believe it should be the responsibility of school leaders to ensure students and supporters are on their best behaviour — win, lose or draw.

Perhaps even more troubling was the refereeing error during the penalty shoot-out to decide the Walker Cup, which may well have deprived St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS).

It seems to us that the decision to remove the offending officials from “active duty” and have them do a retraining programme is entirely appropriate. So too, is ISSA’s letter to the STATHS fraternity expressing empathy.

We note the message from ISSA to STATHS that, “We are mindful of the impact this [officiating error] may have on the team’s morale and we are open to assist in any way to ensure that they are able to rebound from this situation…”

That’s as it should be.