When the schoolboy football season begins this weekend, Kingston College (KC) will be gunning to secure their first hold on the trophy in close to three decades.

"The whole KC fraternity is desperate for a Manning Cup title right now and we just have to remain focused and hopefully we can win this trophy that has eluded us for over 26 years," said Wayne Fairclough, the school's coach, in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday.

KC reached the semi-final of the competition in 2007, losing to eventual champions Jamaica College. They also reached the quarter-finals of last year's competition and Fairclough believes they are going to win.

Main focus

"We need to win the Manning Cup and this is our main focus this season and from there on we can start thinking about winning the Oliver Shield and I think our boys are going to do it for us," said Fairclough.

The North Street-based school is drawn in Group B, which also includes former champions Norman Manley, Ardenne High, St Jago, Jose Marti, Innswood and Haile Selassie.

Fairclough added that all the schools in the group are good teams and therefore they won't be taking them lightly.

"We are not going to take any of teams in our zone for granted because we know that any one of these teams can beat us," he said. "We just have to go and be positive and play our brand of football and hopefully we can get our desired results.

"However, I know that it is going to be very difficult for us because there are a lot of good teams in the competition and we just have to hope for the best."

They have retained 75 per cent of their squad, including national youth representatives Rohan Roye, Jamie Hyde, Prince Samuels and Rashane Garcia.

Sudden departure

However, they have lost the services of last year's top goalscorer and national Under-20 striker MaKaully Tulloch, who has transferred to North Street rivals and defending champions, St George's College.

Fairclough noted that his team would not be affected by Tulloch's sudden departure.

"I think that we have strikers who are even better than Tulloch because we have been getting our act together over the past couple of seasons and we cannot depend on one person, and the show must go on," he said.

"We have to make sure that we reach the quarter-finals and then we take it from there," Fairclough said. "We have an all-around team because we have a lot of depth in our midfield and in our strike force."