I wanted to be one of the first to congratulate Devonshire Recreation Club on their Cougars clinching the Premier League title on Sunday. Since Somerset beat them in the Dudley Eve Final at the beginning of 2007, they have not looked back and have swept all before them.Isn’t it always the team that plays better in the second half of the season that prevails? It was Village who came on strongly last year, but despite an impressive run that took them to the top, they couldn’t deny Kwame Steede and his boys their second title in three years.

Their championship success in 2005 was remarkable enough as it was Andrew Bascome’s first season at the helm (not the first time, Drew has won a title in his first year coaching a club), but this one has impressed me more, given that Shawn Smith had to step in at short notice to replace Andrew at the beginning of the season.

I am sure the club are grateful for Tuba being a constant, but I also know that skipper Kwame kept it all together by conducting pre-season sessions at the Aboretum.

Kwame is one of the few “inspirational” players in Bermuda who can carry his troops and make them better players. Despite being a quiet, humble person, who never seems to be in disciplinary trouble, Kwame is a “winner” and an awesome, influential, player once he “crosses the playing field lines”.

I have probably watched as much local football as anybody this year, and believe Cougars deserved to win the league due to their hard work, team unity, consistency and team harmony. North Village took the competition right down to the wire and apart from their disappointing last outing against Cougars, were looking the best team in the run-in. Ultimately, they paid for a slow start to the season, perhaps a hangover from their Triple Crown success?

Boulevard should be proud of their season, despite fading somewhat after Christmas. Progress was definitely made under the coaching of John Rebello and the captaincy of Shaki Crockwell. Chae Simmons and Jahmal Samuels also impressed as did youngters Cud-Joe Matthews and Angelo Simmons, but they never seemed to recover from losing Stan Lewis to injury, halfway through the season.

Dandy Town had a poor start to the season, by their standards, but improved measurably in the second half of the season. Given the amount of new players joining Town at the start of the season, it was understandable that there was some “bedding-in” and after this transitional year, look out for them to be a force next year.

Trojans managed to win their first trophy for years with a comfortable victory over Cougars in the Dudley Eve, but disappointed in the League again with comprehensive home defeats against Village and Cougars wrecking their title ambitions. I can’t help wondering if the closing of the ground due to the floodlight problems was a critical blow as training was greatly disrupted just when the team was on a high after the Dudley Eve success. If they can regroup and match up well against Cougars once again in both the FA and the Friendship, they may well add to the silverware, before the season is over.

The FA Cup is PHC’s last chance of success in a season that may look, at first glance, as a disappointing one for the Zebras. However, I think Kyle has steadied the ship after some high profile player defections and once he got a regular goal scorer back in Cecoy Robinson, they proved to be very competitive opponents.

The two relegated clubs can take some positives from the campaign. Paget handed out some early season shocks and could be very potent with the individual talents of Travis Wilkinson, Marvin Belboda and Dwia Blyden but their defence was woeful at times, letting in 65 goals in 14 games.

St. David’s were, in the main, competitive in every game and showed a lot of fighting spirit.

Until the eight they put past a disheartened Paget on Sunday, they had only managed seven goals all season with Otis Minors their only real scoring threat from midfield. They did unearth the talented defender, Kiwan Franks who made his national team debut for the New England Revolution game.

I am looking forward to next season when Ireland Rangers and Devonshire Colts return to the Premier with stronger looking squads than when they were relegated last season. I think it could be one of the more exciting seasons with closely matched teams slugging it out to take Cougars’ crown.

To Kwame, Domica, Darius and Reggie . . . enjoy it while you can, boys!