Adrian Frater, News EditorWESTERN BUREAU:
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Glenmuir High School confirmed their superiority over Cornwall College yesterday when goals by the prolific Cornell Learmond and Eric Vernon gave them a 2-0 win over the Montego Bay team in their big first-round Group One quarter-final daCosta Cup game at Brancourt in Clarendon.
The win, their second against Cornwall this season following their 4-1 Ben Francis KO final victory, leaves Glenmuir with a 100 per cent win record in all competitions this season. The team is now well on course to reclaim the three titles - the Ben Francis, daCosta Cup and Olivier Shield - it won last year.
"We should have won by a much wider margin because I thought we really had the better of this Cornwall College team," said victorious coach Jackie Walter. "However, such is the game. Two-nil is a good result so we can live with that."
UNBEATEN RECORD INTACT
In other first-round quarter-final games yesterday, Godfrey Stewart kept their daCosta Cup unbeaten record intact with a 2-0 win over Munro College in their Group One game at St. Elizabeth Technical High School, while in the Group Two games, Decarteret College blanked Happy Grove 2-0 at Carder Park and Mannings and Clarendon College ended 0-0 at Mile Gully.
In the feature game at Brancourt, Cornwall College coach Dr. Dean Weatherley's prediction after his team's Ben Francis final loss that the results would be different should the teams meet again failed to materialise as, despite getting numerous scoring opportunities, his team failed in its quest to halt Glenmuir's march towards retaining their title.
After sharing a series of early exchanges with the Cornwall College team, Glenmuir grabbed the lead in the sixth minute when Learmond pounced on a through pass from midfielder Moses Jordon and fired in his 34th goal of the season, making the score 1-0.
With Cornwall College defending stoutly and looking to limit Glenmuir's goal-scoring opportunities, a bad blunder by goalkeeper Tedroy Watson gave Glemuir their second goal of the game in the 28th minute. Watson completely misjudged Vernon's corner kick, which eluded him and landed in the goal, making the halftime score 2-0.
The second half proved much more competitive with Cornwall College looking a much better team, especially with the ball at the feet of the wily Edward Campbell. They should have scored in the 50th minute but Campbell failed to get his shot on target after breaching the Glenmuir defence.
GLENMUIR STORMED BACK
Midway through the half, Glenmuir stormed back to life and missed glorious chances in the 55th and 62nd minutes. First, Cornelius Henry fumbled badly with the goalkeeper at his mercy and secondly, Vernon's powerful free-kick was brilliantly saved by a diving Watson.
In the dying minutes of the game, Cornwall College muffed two chances in rapid succession through the usually accurate Richard Edmondson. First he fired wide with the goalkeeper closing in on him and secondly, with the empty goal before him, he fired wide.
