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CSL Roundup Late goal blitz carries Astoria Gaels past Lansdowne

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Jay Mwamba

Two goals in the last 13 minutes prodded Astoria Gaels to a 4-3 victory over Lansdowne Bhoys in a hard-fought local derby of sorts in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League’s Metro Division last Sunday.

"A typical Irish encounter, tough, hard and physical," Gaels manager Jimmy Ralph summed up the thriller at Van Cortland Park, which ended with a double ejection after a bust up between two players.

Gerald O’Brien shot Gaels (8-4-2, 26) ahead in the opening 10 minutes only to provoke a quick response from Lansdowne’s Ray Barrett and Paul Doherty, who put the home side up 2-1.

Enter Andy Mahoney, whose 35th-minute effort tied the game before the interval. Mario Ramirez, however, restored the Lansdowne lead on resumption, and with the minutes ticking away in the second half, Gaels launched an all-out offensive, sending men forward in numbers.

Their commitment to attack was rewarded in the 78th minute, when Derek McKenna met Nestor Allen’s swerving corner with a powerful header to make it 3-3.

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Minutes later, P.J. Burke and John Berine sliced through the Lansdowne defense with a series of one-twos before feeding the ball to Rob Ormond, who beat two defenders and set up the winner for Mahoney.

Ormond was later dismissed with a Lansdowne player for a clash on the stroke of full time.

"Blood and guts," remarked Ralph, who had goalie Declan Harrigan to thank for preserving their lead with a brilliant save from a free kick.

Ralph gave Man of Match honors to center half Mark Bourke.

The win kept Gaels in third place in Metro II, three points off the pace.

Red star

Shamrock edged Fairfield/Westchester United 1-0 at Downing Stadium on Red Pena’s strike to climb farther away from the relegation zone in the First Division. The Shamrock reserves also won 1-0, courtesy of a 25-yard cracker by Chris Long.

Mick McCarthy started the move that led to Pena’s goal. He won the ball in defense and passed it to midfielder Terry Lawless, who knocked it over the Fairfield back line for the Mexican to slam into the net.

"It was a fairly tight game," said Shamrock’s John Guildea, "[although] we could have added one or two more."

Long, who made a second-half appearance for the first team, and Lawless, both came close.

Shamrock (3-4-4, 13) remain third from the bottom, but are now five points ahead of Banatul in the relegation zone.

Fiona’s rocked

The Shamrock organization completed a hat trick of victories on the day with a 3-0 Metro I romp over Fiona’s at Downing Stadium. Willie Murphy, Emmet Macken and Kevin Hessy connected.

"We were missing a few key players," Fiona’s boss, John Marron said, mentioning the aptly named Martin Swift and his defensive partner, Keith Doyle, among the absentees.

Brave Celtics

Eddie Bastien denied Rory Finn’s GH Metros full points with a late brace in Brooklyn Celtic’s 3-3 Over-30 tie at Fort Hamilton.

Metros led 3-1 seven minutes from the end when Bastien got going. Sean Conaghan was the other Celtic scorer.

"The guys missed a lot of chances," said Celtic’s Paddy O’Sullivan.

Saints hammered

With no substitutes available and some players obliged to feature in both games, St. Barnabas never really had a shot against defending champs New York Athletic Club even before.

NYAC, without their vacationing coach, Ronan Downs, hammered the Saints 5-0 at Travers Island after earlier winning the reserve encounter 4-0.

NYAC improved to 9-3-1 (28), five points behind Div. I leaders New York Albanians, who held off second-place Pancyprian Freedoms 2-1 at St. John’s University.

Naum Kove (10th), and ex-St. Barnabas forward Tony Camaj struck for the

Albanians.

In other First Division action, Qazim Hakramaj (80th) earned Koha a 1-all tie with Polonia at Erasmus High School, while Jose SanMartin (37th) and Roberto Lugris (42nd) produced CD Iberia’s first win over the 2000-2001 season at the expense of Banatul.

Alive and kicking

Earl Dennis (15th), Mark Sailor (20th, 40th pen), and Chris Van Tuyl (30th, 35th), kept Div. II-East Manhattan Kickers’ promotion hopes alive with a 5-2 victory over Ukrainians at McCarran Park.

Kickers (9-3-2, 29), closed to within three points of pacesetters Barnstonworth Rovers (32), who battled to a 0-0 draw with New York Wanderers with two games left. Rovers’ reserves prevailed 3-1.

"What was interesting about this game is that this was a lineup we’ve never used before. It was an offensive team," Kickers goalkeeper/coach Mike Fitzgerald said.

Ukrainians took the reserve fixture 2-1.

At Roosevelt Island, Eric Oram (5th) powered S.C. Eintracht, whose reserves triumphed 3-0, to a 1-0 decision over Nag’s Head United.

Ridgewood triumph

In Div. II-West, Ridgewood Romac beat Central Park Rangers 2-0 in a top-of-the-table clash at Randalls Island. Edward Laibner and Bichi Dumitru scored as Ridgewood, with a game in hand, drew level with Central Park on the 32-point mark. Rangers’ reserves won 10-2.

Third-place Ripensia Romania (29) had an Adrian Ionete hat trick and a Romici Babaci strike in the 4-1 thrashing of Clarkstown.

BW Poughkeepsie, meanwhile, pasted short-handed Homenetmen 9-1 at the Germania Recreation Grounds after taking the reserve meeting 2-1.

Sunny finale

Onder Koksal (two), Cen Sahin, Ferruah Orbah and Omer Koksal starred in Sunnyside Genclik’s 5-1 sweep over Barnstonworth Rovers that put the Queens side (11-1, 33) at the top of Metro I, over idle Jersey City FC (31).

BW Gottschee were also victorious in Metro I, putting two past Brooklyn Stars without conceding any, at Randalls. Alan Mendoza and Daniel Gonzalez were on target.

In Metro II, Ernesto Teran led Central Park Rangers to a 1-0 win over Gotham FC at River Bank Park, while Steven Tirrol had a goal in ASA McCarthy’s 4-1 loss to Brooklyn Thunder at McCarran Park.

CD Iberia picked up a point in a 1-all tie with Roosevelt Island International, on Michael’s tally at Roosevelt Island.

Birthday strike

Oscar Kunde celebrated his birthday last Sunday in style, scoring for "B" Division front runners Brasil S.C. (7-2-2, 23) in a 1-1 draw with Pele Masters at Floyd Bennett Field.

"He’s 42 and still running," said Brasil coach Ruy Reis.

Athletic Club moved into second position (6-1-3, 21) with a 5-2 shellacking of Guyana Veterans ‘A’ at Travers Island. Holger Kissell (two), Etsu Tanaguchi (two), and Howard Mattsen were the NYAC hitmen.

Gottschee held

"It’s the story of [our] season. We can’t put them away and we give up late goals," goalie Frank Lackner said after BW Gottschee had given away a late equalizer in a 2-2 stalemate with Guyana Veterans "B" at the Floyd Bennett Field.

Gottschee led 2-1 at one point through Danny Jordan and Andreas Britz before Melvin Johnson got the second of his match for Guyana.

Elsewhere in the "B" Division, Fairfield/Westchester United trounced S.C.

Eintracht 3-0.

Celtic juniors

Ashley O’Sullivan starred in two weekend victories by the Brooklyn Celtic U-12 and U-16 girls in the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League.

Ashley, who’s 11, scored twice in the U-12’s 6-0 win over Downtown United along with Laura Palumbo (two) and Amanda Ferrarotto (two).

O’Sullivan then connected in the U-16’s 2-1 decision over Gottschee.

Jamie Martin got the other goal.

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