February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
Shamrock S.C. stormed into the semifinals of the Cosmopolitan Soccer League Cup last Sunday after thrashing Third Division Ripensia-Romania "A," 3-0, at Downing Stadium.
But St. Barnabas, cup winners three years ago, had their hopes of returning to the final dashed by Second Division (East) leaders CD Iberia, who crushed the Saints, 4-1, at SUNY-Purchase. Iberia now face Shamrock in the semifinals.
It was also an unhappy Mother’s Day for Paddy O’Sullivan’s S.C. Gjoa, who were knocked out of the U.S. Men’s National Amateur Cup regional playoffs, and Second Division Lansdowne A.C., whose relegation woes continued
to mount.
Picture perfect
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Ripensia-Romania "A" turned up at Downing Stadium with scores of fans and a Romanian television crew in tow, but Shamrock quickly stole the quarterfinal show on a near perfect Spring afternoon.
Skipper Robbie Walsh put the Rocks ahead from a corner after 5 minutes, a lead that goalie Kevin McPartland was able to preserve at halftime with a breathtaking penalty save.
A minute after the break, Darren Thunder connected a Tim Cummings cross to make it 2-0. When the Romanians lost their center half and captain after fifteen minutes of the half, it was all over for them. Darren Thunder had to leave the field and was replaced by John Guildea. Guildea went up front and Patrick Geraghty reverted to midfield. This switch set up the third goal in the 70th minute and was possibly the move of the match. Geraghty set off inside his own half. His speed alone took him past three defenders, a decoy run by Tim Cummins created another gap for him. When he beat the final defender the move had goal written all over it. The Romanian goalkeeper parried the shot, but Tim Cummins had arrived back in time to wrap it up for the Shamrocks, who now have a semifinal date with Iberia.
"We should have scored another two or three; they weren’t a bad side, just very physical," said Shamrock coach Guildea.
Guildea was stunned on learning the Saints’ fate against Iberia. "Geez, that’s a shock," he exclaimed on hearing the result. "That’s interesting."
Shamrock, who are chasing a unique league and cup double in the CSL, beat New York Wanderers, 4-0, in the second round.
Saints clobbered
For the second week running, Ian Hennessy and goalie
Jim Keady were the only first team players that showed up for St. Barnabas’ quarterfinal tussle with CD Iberia. And it showed.
Hennessy, a former New York/New Jersey MetroStar player, bagged the Saints’ consolation goal (60th) in a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of their equally depleted Second Division opponents.
"Mother’s Day and injuries hurt us. We played with mostly reserves and came here with low expectations after hearing of the 5-1 beating they [Saints] gave Banatul in the last round," Iberia boss Raf’l SanMartin said.
Fernando Borgeatt (20th), Pablo Abelleira (33rd), Sergio Nocco (70th) and Roberto Lugirs (77th) tallied for Iberia, who claimed their second First Division scalp in the cup. They defeated B.W. Gottschee 3-1 in the second round and await the Gjoa-Polonia victors in the semis.
Echoing Guildea’s initial reaction to their semifinal match-up with Shamrock, SanMartin remarked: "It will be an interesting game."
Murphy stymied
Hot-shot Sean Murphy struck for the fifth time in three matches, but his goal was not enough to prevent Div. 2 B.W. Poughkeepsie from succumbing, 4-2 on penalties, to New York Albanians in the other League Cup quarterfinal match played at the weekend.
Murphy’s goal kept Poughkeepsie alive through OT, after which the First Division leaders prevailed in the ensuing penalty shoot-out at Evander Childs High School in the Bronx.
Gjoa evicted
Paddy O’Sullivan was another official who blamed Mother’s Day and other circumstances for the unavailability of key players after S.C. Gjoa’s 4-2 ejection from the U.S. Amateur Cup regional playoffs by Patrick Real Wykoff in Montclair, N.J.
"We were unlucky and missed a lot of players," O’Sullivan said, noting midfielders Colin Philip and Sean Conaghan among the no-shows. "We were down 3-0 and came back with two goals."
Mirsad Huseinovic got both Gjoa goals, as the Brooklyn team failed in its bid to emulate New York Athletic Club’s 1998 semifinal run in the national championship.
Gjoa, however, stayed in contention for the CSL’s Harry J. Saunders Cup with a 2-1 quarterfinal victory over the Clarkstown S.C. reserves, on goals by Nir Svera and Patrick Pierce.
Gjoa tackle New York Greek-American/Atlas in the semifinals later this month. The Greeks squeaked past the B.W. Gottschee reserves 4-3 at Downing Stadium, courtesy of Jose Luis Leva (two) and Costas Tsrikas (two).
Saunders Cup
In other Saunders Cup action, the Shamrock reserves bowed out 3-1 in OT to Div. 3 Pele Masters, despite Del Fitzgerald’s go-ahead goal.
Shorthanded G.H. Metros also came up 4-0 against Clarkstown "B" after being forced to play 60-year-old Paul Weichselbaumer at right fullback, along with coach Rory Finn, who’s 55. Clarkstown meet Pele Masters in the other semifinal.
Lansdowne edged
Roy Kelly’s only goal of the match (70th) for Second Division (West) pace-setters Fairfield/Westchester United left second-from-the-bottom Lansdowne (3-8-5, 13 points) treading in relegation waters at Van Cortland Park.
Ex-Leinster Senior League man End Corr, who marshaled the defense, and forward John Doyle stood out for injury-hit Lansdowne, who must win their remaining two games to avoid the drop.
Corr also played in the reserve meeting which ended in a 1-all tie.
Unhappy Mike
"It wasn’t a good refereed game, but that doesn’t make any excuses for us not scoring," Manhattan Kickers player-coach Mike Fitzgerald observed after a Lo Noliage scorcher of a free-kick lifted Second Division rivals New York Wanderers to a 1-0 decision at Randalls Island.
The reserves tied 1-all.
Three’s company
New York Hungaria rejoined Shamrock and Albanians at the top of the CSL First Division standings (31 points) with a 4-1 romp over Banatul S.C. at Woodbridge, N.J. James Buzgo (two), Joe Fulop, and Laszlo Pataki connected.
"Mother’s Day hurt us," said Banatul veteran Zak Ivkovic, whose team barely managed to scrap together enough players.
The result was an Over-30 player, Yanni, scoring a face-saver (60th), and Banatul finishing with 10 men. Banatul’s reserves were crushed 8-1.
Hat-trick stars
German Gengis had all three goals in Bergen Kickers’ 3-0 win over Sportfriends, who lead Lansdowne by a point. The Bergen reserves triumphed 3-0.
Onder Koksal also netted three times against Brooklyn Stars in Sunnyside Genclik’s 4-0 Third Division sweep. Abdulla was the other scorer.
And in Over-30 league action, New York Pancyprians secured a playoff berth with a 4-2 decision over Scala Brasil at McCarran Park. Dino Magaloudis, Mario, George Touros and Andreas were on target.