Weatherly proud of rural schools’ progress

Western Bureau:

Rural area schoolboy football stakeholders are excited to see two of their own in the finals of the ISSA Champions Cup for the first time.

Clarendon College avenged their loss to reigning Kingston College (KC) in 2019 by dethroning their counterparts with a 2-0 win at the Stadium East field on Saturday. They will meet Dinthill Technical in the final on Saturday after they advanced 5-4 on penalties over Jamaica College after playing out a 0-0 draw at full time.

The first two editions of the eight-year-old competition saw all-urban finals, however, since then, the rural schools have been gradually rising to the occasion and got a hold on the title in 2018. The competition was cancelled last season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cornwall College head coach Dean Weatherly, who guided them to a rural school's first hold on the Champions Cup in 2018, is not thinking about relinquishing his record status as the only rural coach to win the title, but is rather proud to see rural football returning to its former glory.

"It's all well for rural football," he said. "We are matching up again with the corporate teams because, for years, they have been ahead of us. With the work that has been put in, it's good to see that it's bearing fruit now to be on par or even better. It would be even better if for the Olivier Shield, we can achieve that feat also, which would put the crown back on rural football."

Weatherly, who lost his first Champions Cup final to Wolmer's in 2016, says the final brings its own pressure but he expects the quality of the teams to determine the winner.

"With any final, the pressure is always great because it's the best of the best," he said. "We might even see some ugly football in the beginning, and as teams sort themselves out, the quality comes through. It's two good teams with good coaches, so who produces on the day will be champions."