Walker Cup triumph bittersweet for St Catherine High

Winning the ISSA/WATA Walker Cup knockout title was a bittersweet moment for St Catherine High School's head coach, Anthony Patrick, who admitted that the joy of lifting the trophy was tempered by disappointment over missing out on the coveted Manning Cup this season.

Patrick said his team's Manning Cup campaign lost momentum following the passage of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa, which severely disrupted their preparations at a critical stage of the competition.

"We are a bit disappointed not going further in the Manning Cup competition, because things were going pretty well for us before Hurricane Melissa came. But after the hurricane, the players were not turning up at training the way we should," said Patrick.

"Sometimes, only seven players turned up for training, and a next day you will have 10 turning up; but five out of that weren't there the day before, and so it was a see-saw for us after the hurricane," he said.

TURNING POINT

The vastly experienced coach, who has also guided Racing United to the top of the standings in this season's Jamaica Premier League, pointed to St Catherine's round-of-16 defeat to Vauxhall High as the turning point that derailed their Manning Cup ambitions.

"We didn't get two or three full training sessions before our round-of-16 game against Vauxhall. That is where everything crumbled for us because we lost that game to them," Patrick explained.

Despite that setback, Patrick said the disappointment of seeing Eltham - who they defeated twice this season in the preliminary round of the competition - progress to the semi-finals in the Manning Cup served as motivation for his players to regroup and make a strong push for the Walker Cup.

"When my players looked and saw Eltham that we defeated twice in the preliminary round reach the round of 16 and made it to the semi-finals of the Manning Cup, they were all very disappointed, because they believe that they should have been in the semi-finals," he admitted.

DELIVERED

"They also said to themselves that if Eltham can reach the Manning Cup semi-finals, then what are we doing; we are going to go all in and win the Walker Cup and bring back the trophy to the parish of St Catherine. And they were determined to salvage, and so they went out and they delivered this trophy for us, because we believe that we definitely threw away the Manning Cup title this year," Patrick stated.

The Walker Cup triumph marked Patrick's third title with St Catherine High and his fourth overall. He won the competition with Bridgeport High in 2006. Patrick also won two Manning Cup titles and an Olivier Shield title while coaching Bridgeport.

St Catherine High also fell short in last year's Manning Cup final, where they were beaten 3-1 by Jamaica College.