DEFENDING ISSA Walker Cup champions Mona High are to start the defence of their crown when they tackle St George’s College (STGC) in the feature encounter of a double-header at Stadium East this afternoon at 4:15. Before that, Kingston College (KC) are scheduled to take on St Jago High at 2:00 pm.

In two other games at Jamaica College’s Ashenheim Stadium, Tivoli Gardens High play Wolmer’s Boys’ at 2:00 pm and St Catherine High take on Campion College at 4:15 pm.

Having won their first Manning Cup title in 2023, Mona crashed out early the following year and were relegated to the second-tier Walker Cup. They duly seized the opportunity then, beating Excelsior High 4-1 in the final for their first Walker Cup title.

Now they are back in the hunt, having failed to make the quarter-finals of the Manning Cup. Based on form, they should prove too hot for a St George’s College team that will be without head coach Neville Bell, who resigned last week.

At this stage of the season, and given the general perception of the Walker Cup as a secondary trophy, the team with the most motivation will likely emerge triumphant.

St George’s were the first winners of the old-format Walker Cup, for which the top four teams of the Manning Cup competed before it was expanded to all teams, later being whittled back down to the top eight teams. In 2018 it was changed to this much-maligned second-tier format.

The Walker Cup was formed in 1961 as a knockout tournament involving the top four Manning Cup teams, in honour of H N “Chicken” Walker, a former general secretary and treasurer of ISSA.

The “Light Blues” of St George’s, now to be guided from the dugout by Marcel Gayle, have endured a dismal season, losing three times in the first round of the Manning Cup. They lost on three more occasions in the second round, crashing 2-4 to Charlie Smith High, 1-3 to Vauxhall High, and 1-5 to St Catherine High. Still STGC, along with KC, are the joint most successful teams with nine Walker Cup titles.

However, St George’s will find it hard to overcome a Mona team that was unlucky not to have knocked out favourites Jamaica College from the Manning Cup when they ended 2-2.

Dethroned Manning Cup champions KC will be playing in the Walker Cup for the first time since 2017. Coach Vassel Reynolds did allude to motivational issues for his team after the disappointment of the Manning Cup. They face St Jago High, and only time will tell in what frame of mind the players will turn up.

Tivoli Gardens, who won the Walker Cup in 2022, should get the better of Wolmer’s Boys’ while the 2021 champions St Catherine High must be careful against an improving Campion College team.