CATHERINE HALL, St James — Anthony Patrick, head coach of St Catherine High School, says winning the inaugural staging of the First Half Only preseason schoolboy football tournament will give them confidence as they prepare for the start of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association football campaign.

St Catherine High, the only urban area Manning Cup team that participated in the 45 minute-per-game event at Montego Bay Sports Complex on Saturday, dominated Manchester High to win 3-0 in the final. St Catherine took home the championship trophy and the first-place prize of $500,000.

Dwight Gentles, who scored twice, and Irving Grey got the goals for St Catherine High.

“This win helped us a lot as it gives us some confidence going forward,” Patrick told the Jamaica Observer after the final game, which ended just before midnight.

“The tournament helped as it gave me a good look at my squad. I have a lot of youngsters, and as you saw I made five changes [late in the final] — all of them 14 and 15 years old, all on the pitch at one time — so it gave me a chance to look at my squad.

“I can’t complain. I am just looking around to say how much I can strengthen the squad with the youngsters we have,” he said.

The format of the competition saw six teams playing in two groups of three each. The games each lasted 45 minutes, with a winner decided by penalties in the case of a draw.

St Catherine High were in Zone A with William Knibb Memorial and former daCosta Cup champions Cornwall College, while Manchester High were in Zone B along with former daCosta Cup winners Rusea’s High as well as Irwin High.

St Catherine High beat William Knibb Memorial 4-0 in their first game, then beat Cornwall College 7-6 on penalties after coming from behind to earn a 1-1 draw.

The shoot-out, the only one of the tournament, included a coach from either team taking a spot kick, while both goalkeepers, a defender, midfielder, and striker were selected from each team.

St Catherine High’s goalkeeper Omario Brown, who saved three penalties in the shoot-out against Cornwall College, was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Manchester High were impressive in their first games, beating Irwin High 4-0 and Rusea’s High 3-1. Manchester were awarded three penalties across both games.

Rusea’s High beat Irwin 1-0 in the opening game that started two hours after the scheduled 3:00 pm start, and Cornwall College beat William Knibb Memorial 2-0.

Donovan Duckie, the Manchester High coach, was upbeat despite the loss in the final.

“There’s a lot of positives that we can take away: The stage that was given to us was huge; and I thought we did well [as] we ended up in the finals,” he told the Observer.

Duckie made an early tactical substitution just three minutes into the final.

“I thought we were tentative at the start so St Catherine asserted themselves and took control of the game; two errors by us and we lost. But, congratulations to them. They deserve to be winners. But also, we have to say congratulations as well to Manchester High that we got to the final in the first year of the competition,” he reasoned.

Gentles gave St Catherine High the lead in the eighth minute when he back-heeled a ball from the right side of the six-yard box past goalkeeper Jahleijah Ward and into the far corner.

A mistake by Ward in the 31st minute was punished by Irving Grey as the custodian dropped the ball from a cross, and the alert St Catherine player then pounced on the loose ball and scored from three yards out.

Gentles completed the scoring in the 37th minute when he tapped in from about three yards, after the Manchester High defence appeared to relax.

Kadean Young (left) of St Catherine High takes on Manchester High’s Orlando Grey during the inaugural First Half Only preseason schoolboy football final at Montego Bay Sports Complex on Saturday. St Catherine High won 3-0. (Photos: Paul Reid)