Mona High and St Catherine High are to clash in the ISSA Walker Cup final which will serve as a curtain-raiser for the Manning Cup final inside the National Stadium.

But for these two schools it’s the ultimate prize available right now, as they aim to end their season with a silverware and continue to write their own piece of history.

Mona High are the defending champions, having won their first-ever Walker Cup in 2024 and are hell-bent on retaining their crown.

St Catherine are the 2019 and 2021 champions, and having lost the Manning Cup final last year, they, too, are determined to capture the Walker Cup for the third time.

The Walker Cup was started in 1961 and contested by the top four Manning Cup teams before expanding into all teams in the urban area, then updated to the top eight teams. But in 2018 it was controversially changed to exclude the top four teams from the competition, only allowing the teams that dropped out of the Manning Cup second and quarter-final rounds.

Since then, schools like St Catherine High capitalised on the format and won in 2019 for the school’s first-ever football title. They won again in 2021 and are hunting a third title, and coach Anthony Patrick is confident.

“We are in good stead, the players decided that they wanted this one,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“A few of them are leaving, so they decided they wanted this one. But the good thing about it, though, is that they understand that they made a mess of the Manning Cup itself, especially after seeing Eltham making it to the semi-finals of the Manning Cup after we beat them twice in the first round,” said Patrick.

“That is a heartbreaker for them, so they decided that they wanted to give it their all now for the Walker Cup,” Patrick pointed out.

Patrick said he had wanted Eltham High to win the Manning Cup and St Catherine High to win the Walker Cup for a boost for the parish of St Catherine.

“And now we are going there to bring back some glory. It’s been a few seasons now. 2021 was the last time the Walker Cup came to the parish,” he noted.

“We are here again going up against the defending champions. We are pretty upbeat. We know what they have to offer. They have two very good coaches in Donovan Duckie and the assistant coach in Ricardo Martin, a student of mine at Bridgeport in 2006, and I’m seeing him doing his craft,” Patrick pointed out.

It will be a match of wits between the assistant coaches, Martin and Theo Brown, both played on the Bridgeport winning 2006 team, now facing each other as assistants to Patrick and Duckie while learning their crafts.

“We know a lot about each other. It’s going to go down to the players, who want it more. And I think we are very, very hungry for that. Mona is the defending champion. So we are going there to give it our all, and hopefully that will be good enough for us to take over the title back to the parish,” said Patrick.

St Catherine will be depending on Kedean Young and Dwight Gentles, both of whom scored in their 3-1 win over Kingston College.

Mona are a more rounded team, and with the likes of Sean Leighton, they possess a tall, lanky striker who is skilful and possesses a powerful shot that took him to the top of the goalscoring chart with 23 goals.

Duckie, the Mona head coach, said the boys are eager to retain their title in tribute to their technical director Craig Butler, who is hospitalised.

“Everything now is dependent on the players. There’s no point in debating the philosophy of both teams and who is more savvy tactically on the day. The most important thing is the will to win. So that is very important for us,” said Duckie.

“We want to impose ourselves on the game while still being mindful of the strength of St Catherine. But as the defending champions, we are a very confident bunch.

“The players are ready to go. We have spoken to them, and they have undergone one recovery session. Psychologically, I think they are ready to play the game. Everything will be at stake now, playing for pride, yourselves, family, and school,” Duckie added.

PATRICK… they decided that they wanted to give it their all now for the Walker Cup (Photo: Observer file)

Hydel High’s Seanarie Satchwell (centre) vies for the ball against the Mona High pair of Cleon Spence (left) and Sean Leighton during the ISSA Walker Cup quarter-final match at Waterhouse Stadium on December 15, 2025. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Kingston College’s Deshawn Byfield (left) and St Catherine High’s Timothy Jones battle for the ball during the ISSA Walker Cup semi-final match at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex on December 17, 2025. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)