This archive report was first published on 31 July 2019.
On July 30th, 2019, St Anthony's Boys Kitale kicked off their campaign to win back the under-19 football title with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Shimba Hills at the National Secondary School Term Two Games in Kisumu.
St Anthony's, who have won the national title five times, improved after the break and Daniel Musamali's brilliant free-kick at the hour mark settled the pool A contest.
Also winning their opening A pool match were last year's losing finalists, Olbolsat, who handed North Eastern representatives Banisi Mixed Secondary School a 6-1 thrashing at the Kisumu Boys grounds.
St Anthony's skipper Titus Kapachanga believes his side will get better as the competition progresses, warning other teams to expect a bruising battle.
"We had a slow start today but we were able to get into our element and controlled the match from then on. It is always important to get a good start and we build on that result," Kapchanga said yesterday.
His Shimba Hills counterpart Hassan Mwinyi blamed their wastefulness in front of goal for the defeat.
"This is a disappointing result because we had so many chances to win this game but we failed to put them away. Hopefully, we will improve in our second match," he said.
