February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
St. Barnabas, given to coughing up big leads in recent weeks, found themselves crawling back from a two-goal deficit in torrential rain Sunday to sink Irish rivals Shamrock, 6-2, in the latter’s final Cosmopolitan Soccer League match of the season.
Shamrock coach Eugene Smyth was hardly perturbed by his side’s second crushing defeat in as many weeks, given the conditions at the waterlogged Downing Stadium.
"They were better at swimming than we were. They won the water polo competition," he bantered. "We played in torrential rain for most of the game, and there were massive puddles on both ends of the field."
Still, that didn’t prevent the Rocks, shellacked 7-1 by Koha when they fielded an understrength side the previous week, from going two up in the opening two minutes through Paddy Gerathy and Tim Cummins.
Hat-trick hero Chris Boyne, however, got the Saints going in the 35th minute, cracking in the first of his three-goal haul before Anton McKeon tied it up moments before halftime (45th).
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With the Saints seemingly walking on water on the flooded ground, Boyne (50th, 80th), Dennis Frawley (75th), McKeon (77th), and CJ Doherty (90th) proceeded to finish off Shamrock (6-7-4, 22) in the second half.
Said St. Barnbas official Aidan Dennis: "I’ve never played on a pitch that waterlogged — but even [then] we done well to come back."
The rout was a warning of sorts to Ronan Downs’s New York Athletic Club, who face the Saints at Travers Island this Sunday (June 24), needing a win to bag their sixth CSL First Division title in seven years.
"No! No! No!" Dennis, whose fifth-placed side (6-5-5, 23) dropped Shamrock into sixth position, replied emphatically when asked if they would roll over dead for Downs’s men.
"We’re going to try to put out the strongest team that we can," he said. "They’re going to be tough getting a result off but we’ll try. We’re definitely not
going to roll over."
Celtic through
Defender Sean Conaghan scored in the first half of extra time at Ferris
High School in New Jersey to put Brooklyn Celtic in the final of the Saunders
Cup.
Celtic edged Metro Division I champs Jersey City FC, undefeated until now in all competitions this season, 1-0 in the delayed semifinal match. They will meet Guyana Veterans "A" in the final.
"We were totally all over them but just couldn’t put the ball in the net," said Celtic player-manager Paddy O’Sullivan.
Conaghan, a former Glasgow Celtic youth prospect, finally broke the deadlock in OT when he surged forward and crossed the ball to Ralph, who beat two players and centered. Conaghan connected with a diving header from the cross to decided the match.