Mona will win the Manning Cup, declares coach Hibbert

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ust minutes after going down to their first defeat of the season, Mona High's coach Cleveland Hibbert says his school would shock the nation and go all the way in the Inter Secondary Schools Sports Association/Digicel Manning Cup this year.

Mona High have never won the Manning Cup competition, but Hibbert believes that his team has what it takes to get the job done, even after being clipped 1-0 by Kingston College on their home ground on Monday.

While many would think that Mona should count themselves lucky not to have lost by a wider margin after having the frame of their goal hit at least four times during the game, the tough-talking coach believes that his team is underrated and as such were poised to spring a major surprise this season.

“The thing about it is that they underrate us, but we know the programme that we have. We don't have a one-year programme; this is our second year out of three. We did well last year, this year we are doing fairly well and it is just going to get better,” he assured.

Insisting that they are totally focused on themselves, Hibbert says his team will make the play-offs after the end of the first round.

“With hard work it's going to get better. We don't watch the next team because this team is going to surprise, because we are going to go to the playoff,” he promised.

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Mona are currently second place in Group B in the Manning Cup on 12 points and have drawn a lot of attention since stunning Calabar High 1-0 at Calabar. The return leg against Calabar at Mona will take on added significance since it may well be the game that decides which team will finish second to group leaders Kingston College who currently have 15 points.

Hibbert also boasted that Mona will become the number one choice for high school football players.

“For this year, we have a goal and we have an aim... Mona will be a school to recommend and everybody will look at Mona and say they want to play for Mona after this season finishes.

“We are going to get persons from other schools coming in just because of football because we are going straight to the top. You will see us in the final.

“Without a doubt, Mona, the school of choice, it's going to be the number one school in Jamaica in football,” he boldly declared.

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding the new format implemented by ISSA, which now means that a school cannot win the Manning Cup and the Walker Cup in the same year. But this is of little concern to the Mona coach.

“We are aiming for the Manning Cup, so it doesn't change our focus. If the Manning Cup slips us, which it's not going to slip us, we know we could have the Walker Cup, but our biggest aim is the Manning Cup,” Hibbert promised.

So while the pundits still try to figure out who are the likely challengers to the crown held by Jamaica College, for the last five years, Hibbert has no doubt.