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St Catherine High School's coach, Anthony Patrick, is not deterred from being placed in Group One of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup schoolboy football quarter-finals, from which pundits believe it will be difficult to advance.

Patrick's charges, on Wednesday at The Mico University Collegee, defeated Wolmer's Boys' School 3-1 to advance 5-1 on aggregate. They will be joined in Group One of the quarter-finals by Mona High, Kingston College and St Andrew Technical High School.

Group Two comprises defending champions Jamaica College, Hydel High, St George's College and Tivoli Gardens Comprehensive High, with the top two teams in each group progressing to the semi-finals.

"Yes, it is a tough group, as Mona, who beat us twice, and St Andrew Technical have been outstanding all season, while Kingston College seemed to be peaking at the right time, but my boys are up to the challenge, and they are highly motivated for this.

"Like we have done all season, the approach will be the same, which is to take it one game at a time. We have players who have won two Walker Cup titles, and now they get the chance for bigger silverware, and they will be up to the task," Patrick said.

The veteran coach guided St Catherine to back-to-back successes in the less prestigious Walker Cup knockout in 2019 and 2020, while also being at the helm when Bridgeport High won their two Manning Cup titles in 2001 and 2006, the Walker Cup in 2001, and the Olivier Shield in 2006.

It was the first time since 2017, however, that St Catherine were advancing to the quarter-finals, and Patrick was elated to clear that hurdle.

"At this stage of the competition, we tend to falter, and I am happy that the boys were able to get over this hump, and this will give them a lot of confidence going forward," he opined.

Meanwhile, Patrick stated that he knew St Catherine had the measure of Wolmer's after their first leg at St Catherine, which they won 2-0.

"We knew going into the return game we had the beating of this Wolmer's team, as our margin of win in the first encounter should have been much wider, but our guys missed a lot of chances," said Patrick.

On Wednesday, St Catherine dominated Wolmer's in the first half, with Kadean Young and Dwight Castle scoring to provide a healthy 2-0 lead going into the break. Wayne Wiltshire sealed the deal in the second stanza as St Catherine won easily.

"It was a very dominant performance from my team in the first half, and it could easily have been a bigger lead going into the half, but they wasted a lot of scoring opportunities," stated Patrick.

He declared that he eased up on Wolmer's after Wiltshire's goal, which provided a cushion for St Catherine.

"At that stage I took off two of my players, Ronaldo Stewart and Jacque Watson, who were creating havoc on Wolmer's, who were now able to show more fight then, especially in the final 10 minutes; but the damage had already been done," said Patrick.