BARDING ARE CHAMPS: Kenya finally win boys’ football title after 13-year wait

Barding High School of Kenya celebrates winning the East Africa Secondary School football trophy at Kipchoge Stadium. PHOTO: DENNIS OKEYO

The wait is over! Barding High School have done what no other team could.

For 14 years since the East Africa Secondary Schools games were first held, it has been near misses and countless heartaches for Kenyan boys’ football teams.

St. Anthony’s Kitale is the only Kenyan team that had lifted the title (in 2002).

But all the tears of defeat and constant losses were finally wiped away yesterday when Barding shocked favourites St Mary’s Kitende of Uganda 1-0 in this year’s football final in Eldoret.

Facing the 12-time regional champions was always going to be a Herculean task. The Ugandans had been there before. They had seen it all. To them, it was going to be business as usual — or so they thought.

As for first-timers Barding, it was a journey they had started and were determined to finish. What mattered most was that they kept the faith.

From the first whistle, there was no looking back for the Kenyans as it was time for battle. And battle they did. Zico Kombo was a constant threat from the flanks.

Faced against defenders Bashir Asiku and Jerry Jakisa of Kitende, his tiny physique was a constant threat, but his deft touches and blistering pace were always working to his advantage.

Arnold Onyango and Hassan Ali pulled strings from the midfield, with James Ochieng coming in the 48th minute to replace Trevor Omondi to led the attacks.

Constant cheers from the partisan crowd kept the Kenyans going. Every touch from Kombo and company, drew wild cheers from the stands.

With the match tied 0-0 and edging closer to penalties, expectation was palpable.

Tension was real and telling. No one was ready for the unpredictable lottery. Penalties are about chances anyway.

But with 13 minutes to fulltime, Ochieng brought everyone, bar the Ugandans, to their feet.

It was a goal that everyone had been waiting for.