‘A Good Feeling’ | Dinthill Beat Charlemont To Reach Quarterfinals

Dinthill Technical High School from Linstead in St. Catherine yesterday secured their fourth win so far this season and advanced to the next round of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/daCosta Cup competition.

The former champion defeated Charlemont High School in a 3-0 scoreline at Drax Hall Sports Complex in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.

Dinthill’s captain, Dayeshaniel Russell, scored twice and Shamair Hutchinson netted the other.

All goals were scored in the second half when Dinthill put their superiority on display, camping out in Charlemont’s half of the field.

Coach of the winning squad, Oneil Thomas, said his boys stuck to the game plan and so the win was no surprise.

“We have been playing good football and so we go right through; it is a good feeling,” he told The Beacon. “It was a good planned match. We expected them (Charlemont) to defend well and play well early out, and we know that when the time comes we were going to take charge. That was our talk at half-time, ‘it is our time now, so let us push towards the goal’. We did get that.”

Now that Dinthill have advanced to the quarterfinals – as they usually do, Thomas expects his squad to stay focused. “The other round [of the competition] is going to be a little bit harder, and so we need to make sure that we continue to train well [and] do the necessary things where football is concerned,” he added.

Dinthill’s final match in Zone H of the first round will be on Wednesday (December 1) against St. Mary High at Drax Hall. St. Mary High, so far, have lost all their matches.

Only the two top teams from the zone automatically advance to the next round. With Dinthill already doing that, only one spot remains open.

Ocho Rios High, currently the favourite to fill the remaining slot, are in second position on eight points and have two more matches to play.

Charlemont High, with one match remaining, are on eight points and in third position.

Their coach, Donovan Duckie, after yesterday’s loss, said: “We have one game remaining and so it is important for us to get full three points and hopefully some slip up would go on in terms of Ocho Rios High game… We have to pick them (players) up and refocus. They are kids, so they will definitely feel downhearted, so we will have to lift them up and motivate them and see what we can get out of the next game.”

Looking back the game played yesterday, he commented: “They (Dinthill) moved the ball very well; they were superior than us in terms of possession. We knew that was going to happen and we tried to defend… We did well in the first half and in the second half I thought we turned over the ball too much and our fitness started to go. Hence, in about the 70th minute, everything started to go awry. It was a good game in the end, but you have to give Dinthill full credit. They did everything to win the game. In different moments, we could have scored. We had good chance, I thought.”

Charlemont’s final match in the round will be against York Castle High at Dinthill on December 4.

The other team from Linstead, McGrath High, are in fourth position on five points in Zone H. To stand any chance of joining Dinthill as the other team to advance automatically, McGrath must win their next two matches and hope both Charlemont and Ocho Rios High lose theirs.

The team will play Ocho Rios High on December 1 at Dinthill, and St. Mary High on December 4 at Drax Hall.

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