Phillips wants to grab second chance with Mt Pleasant
Published:Sunday | June 11, 2023 | 12:50 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
THIS TIME last year, Demario Phillips watched with frustration as a valiant season ended without a title as a member of Dunbeholden.
Twelve months later, as a member of Mount Pleasant, he will get a second opportunity to claim silverware in today’s Jamaica Premier League (JPL) final against Cavalier, hoping that fortune smiles on him this time around.
Phillips has been one of the mainstays in the midfield for Mount Pleasant this season, making the move to Drax Hall after helping Dunbeholden qualify for their first-ever final last year. It was a final that went all the way to penalties, which saw Harbour View win their fifth title.
However, it is that experience, he says, that has been instrumental in helping the younger players prepare for the opportunity of a lifetime.
“It was unfortunate for us last season to lose on penalties. For this season, we had to share our experience with a lot of the players because there are players that haven’t been to a final. What we do, we always try to push out a lot on the field in training. Pushing that effort, you have players that work off vibes, the training vibes. So we bring it to the park,” Phillips said.
FIGHT AS ONE
“Going into the final, everyone is together. We will fight as one and we will forever be as one.”
Phillips was joined by his former Dunbeholden teammate Atapharoy Bygrave midseason after his stint in Vietnam, but even before that, the players in Theodore Whitmore’s Mount Pleasant project had already attracted Phillips.
“That was why the move was made. I saw the players that were there. There were a couple of players that came with me and that was the main objective that the coach wanted. And the players wanted as well. So it wasn’t hard,” Phillips said.
Whitmore has hailed Phillips’s presence in the midfield this season, especially when the team has been shorthanded in the middle of the park.
“He has been an integral part of the team. In certain games, Demario will fit into certain positions despite the fact we have a star-studded team and we have played without a number six or an eight. That gave Leonardo Rankin a chance and led us now, switching Demario to a different position,” Whitmore said.
Phillips, like last year, now has the chance to give a team their first title, something that he hopes he can do for the Mount Pleasant fans who have embraced him.
“The football on the park speaks for itself. So the entertaining football that we play, that’s what they like to see. So it is not hard for them to travel so far to watch us play and they are getting the results that they want,” Phillips said.