WHILE expressing confidence that they will be lifting the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/Wata daCosta Cup after this evening’s final at the National Stadium, the respective coaches of two-time winners Garvey Maceo High and first-time finalists McGrath High say they are expecting a tough game.

Start time is set for 6:15 pm.

Not many pundits or fans had predicted this match-up to decide the daCosta Cup this season, but the coaches expressed confidence they had earned the right to be among the last two teams standing.

In their only previous meeting of the season, the teams played out a 2-2 result in the round of 32 of October 19 as both finished on seven points at the top of the group to advance.

McGrath High, who had made it to the daCosta Cup semi-finals for the first time in 2019 and then won the Ben Francis Cup last season, made it one step further after an emphatic 6-1 win over Ocho Rios High in this season’s semi-finals.

Garvey Maceo High pulled off a stunner by beating red-hot favourites Glenmuir High on penalties after they had played out a 0-0 result in a Clarendon derby.

Lester Hibbert — who is in his first season as head coach of the Garvey Maceo team and was part of the coaching setup last year when they made it as far as the semi-finals before losing to eventual champions Clarendon College — said “better preparation” is the reason they had been able to get over all the hurdles along the way.

“We have to stay humble and not get carried away,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Friday. But he pointed out that the fire which burned hot in the semi-finals “never goes away, the fire is always blazing”.

While saying they were confident before the season started, he said they grew in that confidence after beating Glenmuir High in the final game of the first round — which gave them second place in the group only on goal difference.

Hibbert added: “We must be calm in the moment. We have this dream and this is the time we have to live the dream. We are 90 minutes away from the title but it will be a very tough 90 minutes.”

This will be the final daCosta Cup game for the core of the Garvey Maceo team that won the rural area Under-16 crown in 2021, the same year they won the second of their two daCosta Cup titles.

“They have been playing together as a team for a few years and they know our goals,” Hibbert said.

Garvey Maceo have been defensively sound all season, giving up 16 goals in 20 games. They are expected to rely on Omarian O’Brien, Everald Swaby and Rajay McLaughlin to get the goals.

McGrath High roared back from an early goal down in the semi-final to beat a good Ocho Rios High team 6-1, but Coach Jermaine Thomas told the Jamaica Observer he was not surprised at the lopsided scoreline.

“We have been training well; we had some good sessions in front of the goal and it paid off in the semis.”

He was quick to point out that Garvey Maceo would present a different challenge.

“Garvey Maceo are set up differently — they have a more experienced staff and a more experienced set of boys — and we will have to wait to get our chances, but the chances will come,” he said.

Thomas said his team is straining at the bit and is eager for the game to come.

“We have to be working with them and keeping them calm and patient, but they are ready to play and we are ready to show what we can do.”

Shane Pusey, who scored four times in the semi-final win, will no doubt hope to resume where he left off on Wednesday, while Farel Tucker and Devone Davis will be on the hunt for goals as well.