February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
Niall Carolan scored the only goal of the match against Brooklyn Stars last Sunday to propel Shamrock’s Third Division side into joint second position in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League, as the second half of the 1999-2000 season got under way with a spree of cancellations.
Carolan finished off an Owen Sullivan free kick in the 70th to seal the Shamrock win on a waterlogged pitch at Grady Field.
"It was a close enough game all 90 minutes, but [we] closed them down and had two goals disallowed for off-side," said right fullback Terry Horan.
Defenders Joe Smith and Joe Mulligan were outstanding for Shamrock (8-4-1, 25 points), who climbed from fifth place to joint second with Central Park Rangers, albeit the latter have a better goal difference.
Washout
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The Shamrock-Brooklyn game was only one of five played from a schedule of 23 on account of the weekend deluge that left many fields unplayable.
Among the postponed fixtures were Shamrock’s First Division clash with Polonia at Downing Stadium, New York Dinamo-St. Barnabas and the Clarkstown-Lansdowne match up.
Solas eclipsed
Ten-man Solas FC, missing several players including four starters away on business in Ireland, paid the price for their lack of numbers at Ferris High School in a 5-1 thrashing away to home side Jersey City FC.
Omar Toure (35th) got Solas’ consolation goal in the Third Division tussle.
"We were happy about our performance. We did as well as we could," center half John Marron said. "In the second half, we handled them, but gave up two goals in the last ten minutes."
Missing in action for Solas were goalie Mimo Ferrer, defenders Keith Cronin and David Noonan; left winger Thomas Anthony and utility player Ian Witter.
NYAC tops
Defending champs New York Athletic Club reclaimed the First Division leadership with a 1-0 decision over Fairfield/Westchester at Travers Island in the only match in the CSL upper echelon.
Matt Roberti broke the stalemate, and Fairfield’s collective heart, after a scoreless first half with a goal midway through the second. New signing Andy Kwon, a Duke University alum, had the assist on a blustery afternoon.
NYAC improved to 8-2-2 (26) to take a one-point lead over idle Dinamo.
"An evenly played game," noted NYAC coach Ronan Downs, who is pursuing his fifth championship in six years.
"I think we played the better football but didn’t have too many chances because their goalie Steve McNulty is very good and they played a tough game," Downs added.
The Dubliner gave kudos to NYAC defender Glenn Livingston and forward Greg Smalling for their play.
Poughkeepsie ripped
Second Division (West) leaders Ripensia-Romania turned on the heat down the stretch to knock off B.W. Poughkeepsie 4-2 and move nine points clear of second-placed Koha.
Michael Godi (34th penalty, 72nd), Sebastian Lazar (79th) and Olimpiu Roman (88th) produced the win on a windy day at Grover Cleveland High School in Maspeth, Queens.
Ripensia boss Anghel Popa was quick to point out that it wasn’t as easy as the scoreline reflects. "It was a very tough game because of the wind. They also have good players," he added.
Ripensia, whose reserves won 2-1, are now 9-1.
Relegation battle
New Wanderers got a leg up over Ukrainian S.C. in the two Second Division (East) club’s relegation battle, eking out a 2-1 victory at McCarran Park.
Uri Volk (70th) connected for second from the bottom Ukrainian (2-7-1, 7) in a losing cause.
Wanderers, meanwhile, moved one place up into fifth position (5-5, 15).
The Ukrainian reserves run off 5-1 winners.