Dunoon struggling to keep hold of top players

Dunoon Park Technical head coach Jahmia Pettigrew says it remains a yearly challenge for his programme to retain its best players, as schools with greater resources continue to lure them away.

Speaking with The Gleaner, Pettigrew said the issue has persisted throughout his tenure, noting that he has lost at least one player every season since taking charge in 2021.

He explained that schools with stronger programmes and better support systems often offer opportunities his players find difficult to refuse.

“The thing that hurts Dunoon most of all is the transfer to other schools,” Pettigrew said. “These ‘bigger schools’ see a player during the course of the season and take them away from you. Since I’ve been here, every year we have lost a player or two in the same season.”

“This season, we lost Kareem Emmanuel to Wolmer’s Boys, Colin Robinson to Kingston College, and last year, Arantes Clark to Wolmer’s as well. That’s the thing that is always hurting Dunoon. This year you will see Habbie Mohammed at Excelsior High. He was our player, and he came over to sit out a year. I guess this year he’s going to be performing for Excelsior.”

Pettigrew said the continued loss of key players disrupts the programme, but he accepts the reality of schoolboy football. To counter the departures, he integrates players from the Under‑14 and Under‑16 teams into the Manning Cup squad, ensuring a steady pipeline of talent while instilling his philosophy early.

“It is what it is. We just have to live with what’s going on in schoolboy football,” Pettigrew said. “We start from U14 because these players are the ones that are going to come up. They play Pepsi, they play Colts, and they even play when we exit the Manning Cup because then they drop back into U16 and U14.”

“For the past four or five years I’ve been here, we try to instil a certain understanding of the game and the principle of play. From defence to attack, we just try to focus on that and then add on a little thing or two as we go along.”

First‑Round Ambitions

One of Pettigrew’s main objectives this season is to lead Dunoon past the first round of the Manning Cup — a hurdle they have struggled to clear in recent years. He believes that the new format gives his team its best chance yet.

As an unseeded team, Dunoon will begin their campaign in Zone B alongside Hillel Academy, Innswood High, Papine High, Clan Carthy High, St Mary’s College, Jose Marti High, and Penwood High.

“Every year, we try. Our expectation is to get out of the first round. This format, maybe, gives us a little chance to try and get to that, to get to the second round,” Pettigrew said. “This is just always the ultimate aim and what the principal wants us to do — get out of the first round and then we’ll see what comes from that.”