The New York Colleges team’s victory in the Division 2 Shield tournament will be the toast of the Minor Board’s Dinner Dance this weekend after the team produced a stunning 0-20 points to 0-06 victory over the University of Aberdeen last Sunday in Manchester. The victory was made all the sweeter as it had been Aberdeen last year who defeated New York in a heart breaking quarter final defeat.
New York were drawn in a tough group with rivals and eventual Division 2 Finalists Liverpool John Moore’s University and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) who had qualified for the competition after demolishing some of their regional teams in the qualifying campaign.
First up for New York was LJMU in Erin Go Brath’s field in Holly Lane, Birmingham New York enjoyed a great opening spell with Adrian Jusufi opening up New York’s scoring account with a sublime right footed effort from 30 yards. New York continued to pile on the pressure with Liam Deane winning a free on the left hand side of the field which CJ Molloy duly dispatched. The momentum of the game then swung in favor of the Moore’s boys but they were unable to convert their scores dropping several high balls into Kevin Mc Ardle’s hands. LJMU’s first score came in the seventh minute with a fisted effort after sloppy defending from New York. Indiscipline was costing both teams and several players found their way into the referee’s notebook, earning yellow cards. CJ then tagged over another free before great work from Shane Hanley and Shane Hogan allowed Liam Deane to fist home a goal for the Yanks. New York dominated the opening exchanges and Full Forward CJ Molloy scoring another point from play in the 12th minute which saw NY ahead 1-04 to 0-01 at the break.
Six points up and New York looked to be cruising home towards a memorable victory over John Moore’s but a series of costly errors and poor tackling allowed Liverpool back into the game. Indeed New York didn’t score in the second half with Liverpool tagging points in the second and fourth minute; Liverpool also bagged a goal in the sixth minute to put a point between the teams. Liverpool tied the game up in the seventh minute with a point from another free. Four New York players found themselves booked in the second half as the New Yorkers became increasingly frustrated with the game. Liverpool had several chances to go on and win the game but with 14 minutes and 30 seconds on the clock CJ Molloy won a free 40 yards out to win the game after great work from Conor Hogan and Sean Reilly. With the last kick of the game CJ clipped the outside of post to tie the game 1-04 each.
New York had little time for recovery and within ten minutes was up again against the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). UCLAN scored right from the throw up and it looked as if New York heads were still in the previous game. UCLAN scored again within the minute and only for a superb stop from veteran goalkeeper Kevin Mc Ardle New York would have lost the game within the first 3 minutes. Inspired by the save the New York defense broke out and Del Ferreira netted a fantastic goal into the bottom left corner of the net to turn the momentum of the game. From the resulting kick out New York played the ball into CJ Molloy who won a penalty on the edge of the large square which Sean Reilly slotted home to leave the scores 2-00 to 0-02. UCLAN scored a free in the 9th minute to put a goal between the sides but Brian Givney hard work around the middle of the field allowed Conor Hogan to set up CJ Molloy for a point from the edge of the square to put some breathing space between the teams. New York was unlucky to be denied a goal for what appeared to be a square ball but indiscipline in the New York defense again cost the team with UCLAN getting a score late in the half to leave New York a goal up at the half.
UCLAN came right back into the game in the second half and it seemed as though New York were set to implode again with victory in their grasp as UCLAN hit 4 unanswered points to leave New York a point down with 2 minutes left on the clock but CJ Molloy hit 2 frees at the death to win the game for New York by a point. John Moore’s 2 point win over UCLAN in the following game was enough to put New York into the B section of the competition. New York was drawn against the University of Liverpool and Newcastle University but a heavy overnight frost left the fields frozen the following day. New York as the highest placed second teams were then drawn in the Division 2 Shield Final against old rivals the University of Aberdeen with the game to take place in Manchester.
New York began the Shield Final at blistering pace with Donnacha Dwyer winning the throw in and playing the ball into Liam Deane who slotted over from 25 yards. Dwyer’s performances throughout the tournament have showed why many people are looking to him as a future New York Senior Footballer displaying an array of talents in playmaking, scoring and tackling. New York scored 12 points in the first half of the shield final with huge performances from Kevin Daly, Adrian Jusufi, Brian Twomey and Frankie Mc Dermott. Twomey volleyed over a breaking ball on the edge of the square in the second minute and added three more points over the course of the 60 minutes. Brian Givney was causing Aberdeen all sorts of headaches winning several balls around the middle of the field and was unlucky to be denied a goal in the 17th minute. New York went in at the break 12 points to 1 up.
New York never let up in the second half and tagged on several scores with some fine points from Tom O’Brein and Kevin Daly. Sean Reilly scored a ‘45 five minutes into the second half and New York cruised through the last 15 minutes of the game. Aberdeen never gave up and tagged some fine scores to make the score 0-20 points to 0-06 after 60 minutes. Scotland GDA and tournament coordinator Ronan Mc Carthy paid tribute to both teams when presenting the Shield to New York and thanked the New York management for all their hard work in making the trip possible and for making the tournament for six successive occasions. This was New York’s first silverware in all six trips and the players and management were thrilled with the win after all the effort, training and fundraising that has gone into the team.
New York Colleges 2012 Management : Eamon Deane (St Barnabas) (Manager) Connie Molloy (NY Celtics/ Donegal) , Roger Slattery (St Raymonds) , Dennis Twomey (NY Rangers) (Selectors) Eugene McArdle (NY Celtics) (Tour Manager) Simon Gillespie (Trainer)
Players:
Kevin Mc Ardle (Celtics/ Roscommon)
Tom Huvane (St Raymonds / Mayo)
Donnacha O'Dwyer (Rangers / Kildare)
Kieran Slattery (St Raymonds / Donegal)
Johnathan Maher (St Patricks)
Frankie Mc Dermott (St Barnanbas)
Daniel Lehane (Kildare / Rangers)
Shane Hogan (St Barnabas/ Roscommon)
Del Ferreira (NY Celtics / Donegal)
Conor Hogan (St Barnabas / Roscommon)
Sean Reilly (St Brendans / Donegal)
Thomas O'Brein (Long Island Gaels/Rangers)
Adrian Jusufi (Rangers)
Shane Hanley (Rockland)
Liam Deane (St Barnabas/ Donegal)
CJ Molloy (NY Celtics/ Donegal)
Brian Twomey (Rangers / Kildare)
Kevin Daly (Kildare / Rangers)
Brian Givney (Cavan/ Donegal)
Phil Kennedy (Kildare/ Rangers)
Dennis Kilkenny (St Raymonds/ Sligo)
