Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer
Defending champions St George’s College (StGC) recorded their second consecutive victory in this year’s Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Gatorade/Digicel Manning Cup football competition, netting a 1-0 margin over Dunoon Technical in Group C at Vauxhall High yesterday.
Jerondy Henry scored the lone goal for the Neville ‘Bertis’ Bell-coached St George’s in the 50th minute.
In the group’s other games, Hydel also recorded their second win – a 1-0 scoreline over Cumberland, and Clan Carty and Denham Town played to a 2-2 draw.
Hydel and St George’s are now tied atop the group with seven points each. They are followed by Clan Carty (five), while Cumberland have one and Dunoon are yet to get off the mark.
St Georgians produced a superb first-half display of attacking football, but they failed to get on the scoresheet due to poor shooting from their strikers, solid defending from Dunoon defenders and excellent goalkeeping from Nykali Burke.
Mark Brown, Cardel Benbow and Zhelano Barnes all failed to make good use of excellent scoring chances for St George’s.
St George’s were finally rewarded for their dominance five minutes into the second half, when Henry outjumped three defenders to head home a corner kick from Brown.
Henry almost doubled his team’s lead a few minutes later, but his long-range effort was spectacularly saved by Burke, who dived full stretch to palm the ball away from goal.
Marcel Gayle, assistant coach of St George’s, said: “I must commend the guys because they stood out there and fought despite playing in wet conditions.
“We were able to get the three points and that was the important thing for us, and I think that we will certainly get better as the tournament goes on.”
Omar Edwards, coach of Dunoon, said: “I must commend my players because it was a spirited performance from them. I think that we gave up a soft goal and that cost us the game.”
Yesterday’s Results
Group B
Camperdown 4
Mona 0
Group C
St George’s 1
Dunoon 0
Hydel 1 Cumberland 0
Clan Carty 2 Denham Town 2
Group E
Trench Town 0
Holy Trinity 0
Spanish Town 2
Ascot 1
St Catherine 2 Jonathan Grant 1
Today’s games
Group A
Excelsior vs N Manley
Papine vs Campion
Group B
St Jago vs JC
Group D
Calabar vs Bridgeport
St Mary’s College vs Innswood
Group F
KTHS vs José Marti
Group G
Ardenne vs STATHS
Charlie Smith vs Meadowbrook
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120918/sports/sports5.html
