Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

Urban football's top team Bridgeport, will battle rural Jamaica's finest Glenmuir, in the first leg of the ISSA/Pepsi/JN Olivier Shield finals, starting at 3:00 p.m. today at Spanish Town Prison Oval.

Claims to the title of schoolboy football's premier team will truly begin in earnest when Manning Cup winners Bridgeport, who fought their way to a 3-1 win over Excelsior and daCosta Cup winners Glenmuir, who defeated Frome Technical 3-2 on penalties, compete today for schoolboy football's oldest and most coveted title.

While Glenmuir will be hoping to take the title back to Clarendon, a feat which they accomplished in 2004 with the schoolboy triple crown, two-time Manning Cup champions Bridgeport will be hoping for their first hold.

Thrashed

The St. Catherine team came close when they won their first Manning Cup title in 2001, but after leading eventual champions Cornwall 3-2 heading into the second leg, they were thrashed 7-0 in the return game, all following a bit of disunity in the camp.

This is performance which their coach Anthony Patrick never wants repeated and the team will aim to take full advantage of their second opportunity.

"That loss definitely serves as added motivation for us and we have talked about it everyday since winning the Manning Cup," Patrick said.

"I won't say that we are overconfident but we are taking this game very, very seriously. We have a chance to do something the 2002 team never did and that is winning schoolboy football's most prestigious cup," he added.

However, if Patrick 'Jackie' Walters and two-time daCosta Cup champions Glenmuir have their way, there will be no redemption for Bridgeport.

Raring to go

"We are ready and raring to go for this game and we are really looking forward to it. We haven't played at the Prison Oval all season but that shouldn't make a big difference," said Walters, who has won over 10 titles as a coach in schoolboy football.

"We are going all out today, we want the win that would give us a huge advantage heading into the second leg," Walters added.

Both squads are at full strength and while Bridgeport will benefit from the return of Theophelus Samuels, who has netted in their last three games, including twice in the Manning Cup final, Glenmuir will be bolstered by the return of James Thomas, who recently went to Trinidad and Tobago with the national under-20 team.

The second leg of the final will be played on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Brancourt and the winner of the competition will walk away with $180,000.