February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
Lashing wind and rain forced another postponement of League Cup holders’ Shamrock’s first round tie against Ridgewood Romac at Randalls Island last Sunday.
But there was no respite for the Shamrock Reserves in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League’s Harry J. Saunders Cup, on a day that saw many rain-related cancellations.
Their Thanksgiving weekend was dampened by a 6-5 penalty loss to Metro Div. II side United Bulgaria at Randalls. The two teams were tied 1-1 after 90 minutes.
"It was like playing in a rice paddy," said first team assistant coach John Guildea, whose 85th minute penalty for Shamrock forced the penalty shoot-out. "It was an entertaining game, but it definitely shouldn’t have been played."
Bulgaria had taken the lead earlier (60th), through Asem, and were able to maintain their poise during the penalty competition, converting all six spot kicks.
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Kevin Brennan, Owen Sweeney, Brendan Riley, Guildea and Robbie Walsh were on target for Shamrock, while Eugene Smyth’s botched effort enabled Bulgaria to clinch the tie with their sixth shot.
Shamrock’s third side forfeited its Saunders Cup first round match with Jersey City FC after failing to raise a team.
Saints bundled out
The St. Barnabas reserves also came a cropper in the Saunders Cup on the rain-swept shores of the Atlantic at Canarsie Beach, where Guyana Veterans "A" posted a 3-2 victory.
Strikes by Michael Flood and Mark Maguire were not enough to hold back Guyana, who were led by two-goal hero Trevor Burnett and Bernard Britton.
"No complaints about the result," the Saints’ Aidan Dennis remarked before ripping the conditions at Canarsie Beach. "Pretty poor. It was a joke really, a real caper."
Celtic edge
Eddie Bastien’s "golden goal" swept Over-30 side Brooklyn Celtic past Second Division FC Japan’s reserves in an exciting Saunders Cup tussle at the Shore Road Field in Brooklyn.
The winner was Bastien’s second of the match, during which Celtic twice trailed. His first (40th) had canceled out Japan’s ice-breaker, before Patrick Pierre’s penalty (74th), two minutes after the speedy visitors took the lead again, extended the affair into OT.
Celtic’s Jim Murray was full of praise for FC Japan. "They played some great football in tempest-like conditions."
NYAC ousted
Athletic Club’s cup woes continued at the weekend. Seven days after being tossed out of the U.S. National Amateur Cup by New York Greek-American/Atlas, coach Ronan Downs’ men were blown out of the League Cup by New York Albanians 4-1 at Travers Island.
Former St. Barnabas forward Tony Camaj did most of the damage in the second round encounter, chalking up a hat trick for Albanians. Blas Cardoza accounted for the other goal.
"With Athletic Club, it’s always competitive. We played much better in the second half," replied Martin Shkreli when asked how Albanians broke a 1-all first half deadlock.
NYAC, however, were so short-handed that the 48-year-old Downs had to insert himself in the starting lineup as the 10th man. Among NYAC’s MIA were Andre Parrish and Dominic Hardy.
Still, Downs graciously conceded defeat. "They played very well," he said of the victorious Albanians.
Iberia fumes
Second Division Ripensia-Romania joined Albanians in the League Cup quarterfinals with a disputed 3-2 OT decision over First Divison CD Iberia at Grover Cleveland High School in Maspeth.
"The ref stole the game," claimed Iberia boss Raf’l SanMartin. "In my book the game should have been 2-1 for Iberia."
SanMartin’s bone of contention was Ripensia’s equalizer, which came with two minutes remaining in regulation and Iberia leading 2-1 on goals by Michael Torres (27th) and Rodrigo Gamboa (32nd).
He protested that it was scored from a clear offside position, and came after the needless ejection of Iberia’s best player in the Nigerian-born sweeper Ron.
The game went into OT, during which Ripensia netted the ‘golden goal’ winner.
Rovers through
Bernard Weiner (25th) and Jim Thornhill (30th), courtesy of a David Bonthrone through ball, propelled the Barnstonworth Rovers reserves into the Saunders Cup quarterfinals with a 2-1 win over BW Gottschee’s Over-30 side at Randalls Island. George Lesmes (33rd) was the Gottschee scorer.
"Most of the second half was ours," said Gottschee goalkeeper Frank Lackner. "We hit the post and had several chances."