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Wright hopes experience will drive Cornwall farther in daCosta Cup
August 19, 2025
CORNWALL COLLEGE'S head coach Hector Wright is hoping his team will capitalise on its experience and make it past the Inter-zone round this season in the daCosta Cup schoolboy football competition.
"We lost four players that played for two or three seasons. Most of the players we have now are from the under-14 and under-16 programmes. Some of them, it is their second year in the daCosta Cup, so a little experience is there. I just hope they can build on that," said Wright.
Last season, Cornwall advanced as winners of their zone in the first round, and they ended as runners-up in their second-round group.
After clawing their way into the round of 16, Cornwall's daCosta Cup title run ended when they finished third in the zone, winning only one game, against a winless Clarendon College.
Failing to advance to the quarter-finals last season, Cornwall's ambition for the upcoming season is to surpass that achievement and potentially compete for the championship.
"We are hoping we can take it a step further. Once we do that we can always think about winning the championship. I just want to ensure that we go further than we did last year," said Wright, a former national midfielder who made his national senior team debut in 1988 against Canada and earned 110 caps.
Last season, Cornwall also advanced to the quarter-finals of the Ben Francis Knockout Cup after they squeezed out a 5-4 penalty shootout victory over Happy Grove High School.
However, they lost to eventual Ben Francis Cup champions, St Elizabeth Technical High in a 9-8 penalty shootout.
It's now nine years since Cornwall won the daCosta Cup.
According to Wright, preparations have been good, especially with a pre-season tournament, which they won.
"We went to Kingston last weekend and our physical trainers were saying we are too far in terms of peaking. What we started to do for the rest of the season is back off a little to prevent fatigue," said Wright.
Cornwall were crowned the first champions of the Montego Bay United FC (MBU) inaugural Invitational High School football competition, when they clipped Frome Technical High 2-1 in the final. The competition was held over the weekend.
"Competitions like these are really good, especially pre-season, so we can prepare or have it be a part of our preparation going into the season," Wright said.
"In terms of physical work, we try to at least tone the boys down. So far it has been good and we just hope we can make it better," he added.
The 129-year-old Cornwall College have won 31 titles in schoolboy football. These include 12 daCosta Cup, seven Ben Francis KO and 12 Olivier Shield titles.
Cornwall will be campaigning in Zone A of the first round with Herbert Morrison Technical High, Green Pond High, Irwin High, Maldon High and St James High.
The ISSA schoolboy football season will officially begin on Saturday, September 6.
