February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
St. Barnabas traveled to the Metropolitan Oval on Sunday, often a field that has presented trouble in the past. On this occasion, though, Gottschee were on the receiving end of a 5-3 defeat.
St. Barnabas scored all five of their goals in the first half, in a display that will warn their Div. 1 rivals that they will be a side to be reckoned with in the coming months.
Barely five minutes into the game, Chris Gonzalez latched onto a through ball from Ben Hickey and his shot from 18 years found the bottom left-hand corner.
Andy Hendrie scored the first of his fine brace on 14 minutes. Goal-scoring sensation Sean Neales was tripped inside the penalty area in the 25th minute and then calmly slotted home the resultant penalty.
St. Barnabas continued to breach the Gottschee rear-guard and Hendrie got his second goal and put Barnabas 4-0 in front after 34 minutes, capping of a fine debut performance.
Sean Neales made in 5-0 just before halftime as one began to feel sympathy for an outclassed Gottschee side. To their credit, Gottschee came back into the game in the second half and scored three goals unanswered, but the game was over as a contest at halftime due to textbook finishing by the Barnabas strike force.
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Barnabas Reserves 3, Gottschee 1
Barnabas reserves continued their fine run of impressive results in defeating Gottschee, 3-1.
Rhett Mitchell opened the scoring on 25 minutes when his fiercely struck volley found the roof of the net following a fine headed pass from Paddy Murphy.
The remainder of the first half saw Barnabas surge forward at will and Gottschee had their goalkeeper to thank for keeping the halftime scoreline at 1-0.
In the 55th minute, Tim Yates used his incredible pace to race past three Gottschee defenders before blasting the ball home from 10 yards out.
Tommy Whitty put Barnabas 3-0 in front with 20 minutes remaining, driving a low shot into the bottom corner from 18 yards.
The Barnabas defense had handled any Gottschee threat well until 8 minutes from the end, when a disputed offside call went against St. Barnabas and the resultant goal put a more respectable look to the scoreline.
In a fine team performance Tim Yates, Tommy Whitty and Harry Zep were best.
Barnabas Thirds 3, Clarkstown 1
St. Barnabas third team had a triumphant day at SUNY Purchase when they defeated Clarkstown, 3-1.
The Saints were determined to avenge the 5-0 thumping they received earlier in the year. Barnabas struck first when Larry Carolan crossed from the right side to a wide open Paul Tiernan, who calmly tapped it home.
The lead was short lived, however, as Clarkstown leveled the score on a questionable offside play. However, the Saints were not rattled and took the lead when Larry Carolan created space for himself on the right and hit a curling left footed into the corner of the net.
The second half saw Barnabas keep up the pressure and were rewarded with a third goal when Vinny Norton broke through the Clarkstown defense to assure Barnabas of the three points.
Paul Tiernan and Vinny Norton controlled the middle of the park, while Tadgh Donegan and Brendan McDonaugh held the back line steady.
Islip 2, Glen Cove 0
Islip can be proud of a splendid performance, knocking Glen Cove off the top of the table.
In the first half, Islip were unlucky on two occasions when Shane Lawrence and Rob Chulis connected, but the goalkeeper kept the ball out of the net. Islip’s defense, Damien Farrell and goal keeper Aiden Loyens had great performances.
In the second half, Islip stepped up the pressure and snatched the first goal from a corner kick, and Shane Lawrence put the ball in the net. Ten minutes later, with the long ball from Paul Caffrey, Rob Chulis put ball in the net.
Man of the Match goes to Aiden Loyens.
In other games, the Islip Reserves outdueled Glen Cove, 6-4, while the Over 30s prevailed over the same opponents, 4-1.
Hota 4, Irish Rovers 1
The Irish Rovers first team suffered a blowout 4-1 defeat against a superior Hota team. The scoreline was a fair reflection of the home side’s dominance, and only goalkeeper Damian Doherty performed up to standard.
A mistake by Chris Simms allowed Hota to take the lead just before half time, but the Rovers could not get a break in the second period and sorely missed the energy of Alex Byrne in midfield.
Coach Niall Archibold said he was disappointed with the performance, but promised his team would bounce back against Islip this weekend.
Rovers Reserves 1, Hota 1
The Reserves stayed in first place with a gutsy performance, Brian Green equalizing an own goal by Mick Kavanagh.
Leading scorer Niall Coogan was dropped after missing the team bus, and Tony Moran and Dean Gibson looked sharp up front.
Jack Lain and Willie Dempsey also played well, and Kevin Kenny almost stole all three points with a late shot.
Rovers Over 30s 3, Hota 0
Joe McGreevy’s men continued their march up the table with a comprehensive win over Hota.
The scoreline should have been 10-1, but Nigel Cunniffe missed chance after chance.
Marshall McAdoo is on a roll though and he scored twice after a goalkeeping error and then a header after good work from Robbie Kilbane.
Kilbane looked sharp and deserved his goal late on, beating the keeper with a good shot.
Benny McIlarney and Peter Halloran were excellent in defense.
Shamrocks Seconds 5, Hungaria 1
The Shamrock second team continued in championship fashion with a 5-1 victory over Hungaria at Downing Stadium at the weekend. Goals from Niall Swan and Paul Woodley had the Rocks two up at the break. Woodley’s first goal from play in 14 years was particularly memorable as he smashed a volley home from fully 30 yards. When Niall Swan made it three shortly after the restart, the game was over as a contest, but we were to witness a second cracker when the ever consistent Dennis O’Boyle played a clever one-two before unleashing an unstoppable dipping shot from 20 yards to make it 4-nil. Hungaria were to get one back before Brendan Reilly wrapped up proceedings with a fifth for the boys in green, who had stars in Mark Behan and Seamus Pilkington.
Shamrocks Thirds 3, Romania 3
The third team gave a gutsy display to gain a point from a tough Romania Ripensia side. This see-saw battle had the Shamrocks behind twice at 1-nil and 2-1, but a Niall Carolan drive and a Bart O’Rourke penalty getting the Rocks back on level terms, but when they eventually went in front for the first time, it looked like the victory had been secured courtesy, once again, of the free-scoring Carolan. But Romania converted a penalty I the waning minutes and the hardy Shamrocks had to settle for a share of the spoils. Anto May was Man of the Match.
Juventus 4, Emeralds F.C. 0
A shorthanded Emeralds Over 30s team went down to joint league leaders Juventus, 4-0, in an A Division game Sunday at Overpeck park in Leonia, N.J.
Despite the scoreline, the match was evenly contested for almost 80 minutes, the biggest problem was having to start the game with only nine men.
A defensive slip-up in the third minute got Juve off to a dream start, Noble scoring a simple goal from six yards. Showing passion the Emeralds never gave up trying to level matters, Paul Halligan a lone striker, had a couple of half chances but no luck. Keith Armstrong arrived just before the half and almost scored with his first touch.
A great battle took place all afternoon between Cafone of Juve and Man of the Match Declan Browne, the Emeralds’ center-back gave a rousing performance as he policed the ever-dangerous striker all over the pitch. The game was killed off as a contest in the 80th min.
The Emeralds now streched were caught on the break and Juventus made it 2-0 when Noble got on the end of a left-wing cross. To add to Emeralds’ misery, they conceded two further goals both goalkeeper errors in the dying minutes.