Portmore teams, inspired by last year's showing in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup competition, hunt more glory this season when they match skills with the best of the Corporate Area and Spanish Town.

Last year's beaten finalists, Bridgeport, are drawn in group D alongside a host of St Catherine-based schools - Cumberland, Eltham, Innswood, Jose Marti and St Jago.

Coach Anthony Patrick believes that the group is a tough one, considering that they are all St Catherine teams and bragging rights are at stake.

"It may seem an easy group to some people but it will be a difficult group because of the mere fact that they are all from St Catherine. Eltham are usually a strong team, St Jago and Innswood normally have a good set of players, so this is a competitive group," Patrick said.

Bridgeport High, the 2006 champs, will bow into action against Cumberland on Tuesday, match time 3 p.m.

Coach Patrick, without giving much information away, said he has a good mixture of experienced and newcomers on his side. "We have a good bunch of players and we want to take it a step further from last year," he said.

Bridgeport had mixed results in their practice games. Among school teams, they beat Waterford 2-1 in one game and drew on three other occasions. In a recent game, St George's College edge Bridgeport 6-5 in a goal-fest. Bridgeport also tested their mettle against Premier League teams. Waterhouse beat them 4-1 and Arnett Gardens blanked the youngsters 3-0. Against Under-21 club teams, they lost 4-2 to Rivoli United and 4-1 to Boys Town and were tagged 2-0 by Waterhouse before drawing 3-3 with Tivoli.

Waterford, beaten semi-finalists last year, will look to go at least one better this year. They are drawn in Group B with Ascot, another Portmore side, Calabar, Donald Quarrie, Pembroke Hall, and St Mary's College.

Apart from St Mary's College, who they played twice last season and swamped 25-0 on aggregate, all other matches are expected to be competitive.

Waterford have retained five players from last year's squad and coach Floyd Coke believes his team can go far as they possess disciplined football temperament.

Greater Portmore, another Sunshine City team, are ready to enter the second round after missing the stage by one point last season. They are drawn in Group E, a potentially tough group, with the likes of Ardenne, Camperdown - who defeated them last year - Excelsior, Dunoon Technical, and the dangerous St George's College. Coach Shawn Cunningham is hoping his young lads will get the job done this time around.

The competition officially kicks off today, with a triple-header at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay.