By Jay Mwamba
Ireland’s booming economy is hitting the Irish clubs of the Cosmopolitan Soccer League hard. With thousands of Irish immigrants in the United States succumbing to the lure of the Celtic Tiger, veteran CSL sides like St. Barnabas, Shamrock and
Astoria Gaels are losing players and officials while their common reservoir of new blood dries.
"This is a definite dilemma," Aiden Dennis of Yonkers-based St. Barnabas
said last weekend. "We don’t know what direction to go."
"It’s tough. People are not coming over," noted John Guildea, player/secretary of League Cup holders Shamrock."How bad is it? "This year we got nobody."
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Neither have the Saints, who are ensconced in fifth place in the First Division (5-3-3, 18 points) and have not added names to their roster for the last two seasons.
"And every year we are getting older," Dennis said. "We have always lost players. But when the next year comes along, we get three or four new players. Now they’re not coming along."
The result is that the Saints — whose main pipeline were college graduates who had come to the U.S. on soccer scholarships — are stuck with an aging squad.
Dennis, a sometimes reserve player himself, put the Saints’ average
age at 30.
Key players include midfielders Mick Hennessy and Fran Morgan, who are both
30, ex-coach Tommy Whitty, who at 34 is still an attacking option, and defender Anton McKeon, 32.
Acknowledging that St. Barnabas’ Irish base may be eroded, Dennis said one option to keep the Saints ticking is to look for non-Irish players.
Shrinking Rocks
For Shamrock, who are trying to stave off relegation in the First Division, the lack of fresh blood to replenish departing players is an even bigger challenge.
"Usually every year we get a few guys," Guildea said. "This year we got nobody, and a few lads are going home as well, so it’s getting hard for us to compete."
The two-time CSL League Cup winners recently lost long-time official Andy Powell, and two influential players in fleet-footed winger Johan Lannon and fullback Michael Bishop.
"The two of them are big losses," Guildea said of the players, adding:
"Michael was excellent. He could have played at a higher [level]."
Like St. Barnabas, Shamrock have a steadily graying squad, with up to seven first team members in their mid-30s.
A few are beyond that. Sweeper Paul Wilson, a physical trainer by profession who keeps himself in great shape, is 41,and has been with the Shamrocks for some two decades, while defenders Mick Healy and Dennis O’Brien are both in their late 30s. According to Guildea, a 1987-1992 member of the Shamrock club in London, the "exodus" of Irish players is not restricted to the United States.
"My best mate is manager of Shamrock in London. They used to have three teams, now they are down to one," he said.
Guildea is, nonetheless, optimistic that despite their thinning ranks and recruitment woes, his Queens side (2-4-4, 10) and under the guidance of long-time President Scotty Shevlin, will survive and flourish in Div. I.
"We have 10 points from 11 games and just need another three wins to stay up," he said.
Shamrock train at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at Maurice Park
in Maspeth.
Flying Gaels
The Astoria Gaels franchise, meanwhile, has been hemorrhaging players from both their Gaelic football and soccer units. They face another blow next month, when one of the organization’s founding fathers, Pat Mullery, returns to Ireland with his family.
"We’ve been losing players and it’s affected both Gaelic sides. It’s hard to replace these guys," said coach Jimmy Ralph, a Liverpudlian who recently got a firsthand view of the economic prosperity on the Emerald Isle that is drawing his players.
Gaels, however, are venturing into cyberspace in search of new players.
"The Internet’s been a great tool for us in advertising for players from among young immigrants," Ralph, whose team (7-4-2, 23) is third in the Cosmopolitan League’s Metro Div. II, said.