Garvey Maceo High’s Coach Lester Hibbert is promising an “interesting afternoon” in their clash against Glenmuir High in the semi-finals of the ISSA/Wata daCosta Cup at the National Stadium today.

Hibbert’s Garvey Maceo team and newly crowned Champions Cup winners Glenmuir will meet for the third time this season after sharing the first two games, while a first-time daCosta Cup finalist will be decided when first-time semi-finalists Ocho Rios High takes on McGrath High in the opening game of the double-header.

Today’s winners will qualify for Saturday’s final, also set to be played at the National Stadium and the matchups are promising exciting football from the start.

Hibbert said yesterday that Glenmuir were the team to beat.

“They are on a peak right now as they are coming off a title win,” he told the Jamaica Observer. However, he said his instructions to his players would be to remain focused and disciplined.

“This is a derby game,” he said. “We know a lot about each other and have been playing against each other for a long time and derby games are going to come down to who wants it more.”

Garvey Maceo is the last team to beat Glenmuir this season, on October 12, in the final game of the first round, avenging their first-round loss.

Since then Glenmuir has hardly put a foot wrong, winning 12 games in a row — nine straight in the daCosta Cup and three others on their way to winning back-to-back Champions Cup titles.

Glenmuir did not just win games in the daCosta Cup, they have dominated, scoring 27 and conceding six, three of which came in one game against Frome Technical in the quarter-final.

Orane Watson has been the main destroyer and has scored over 30 goals in the season and will be expected to be leading from the front again today.

Nyron Allen has come on strong as well, scoring in all three Champions Cup games and could carry over his form when the daCosta Cup resumes.

Garvey Maceo is coming off an early exit from the Champions Cup, beaten a second year in the first round by Hydel High, but their form in the daCosta Cup has been steady, albeit losing their last two games, including in the quarter-finals to Ocho Rios.

Hibbert said, however, that his players would be motivated to put everything on the line today.

“We don’t need to say much as the players will understand what is at stake, both teams are going to bring their A games, and it will be the team that really wants it,” he said.

McGrath High’s Jermaine Thomas told the Observer he has told his players they should have fun and enjoy the moment, as not everyone gets to play in these games.

“We are not afraid,” he said, pointing out they were playing their second semi-finals in the last four stagings of the competition, and won the Ben Francis Cup last season.

“All these are huge achievements and we will try to build on that.”

Thomas says his instructions will be for the players to continue doing what they have been doing all season and what got them to the semi-finals but said they have to improve in some areas.

Ocho Rios High will be carrying the hopes of the entire St Ann as they are the first team from the parish to get to the semis, but Coach Veron Peterkin is not getting carried away.

“We will not be taking on other person’s expectations on ourselves,” he said. “We know what we set out to do at the start of the season and we are ready and excited to start the game.”

Peterkin said, while their win in the Champions Cup over Manning Cup finalists St Catherine High taught them lessons, the focus was always on the daCosta Cup.

“We saw in the Champions Cup that we could lift our standards and we were happy for that, and now we need to do it again in the daCosta Cup,” he said yesterday.

Keanu Reid has scored a number of important goals for Ocho Rios and he will be expected to produce the goods again today.

Wednesday’s games:

Ocho Rios High vs McGrath High – 3:30 pm

Glenmuir High vs Garvey Maceo High – 6:00 pm