The Shamrocks team that advanced to the quarter-finals of the CSL League Cup. They will face NY Greek Americans on Sunday April 10 at Met Oval. (Picture courtesy Eoin Sweeney)

Back row, left to right – Sean Mc Mullan (Club President), Anthony Tagliaferri, Joe Connolly, Stuart Colbert, Franck Tsasse, Tom Manz, Darren Freeman (captain), Zach Gosse, Stevie Doyle (assistant coach), Kevin Grogan (coach).

Front row, left to right – Michael McGreevy, Nick Zorbo, Chuong Tran, Joey Zorbo, Chris Burns, Chris Uy, Mustafa Alobeidy.

Missing from team photo who played against Beyond: John McGuigan.

• Rocks women open out lead at top of Division B
• First team advances to League Cup quarter-final
• Legends push Hoboken until the end

The Shamrocks women picked up where they left off in what could prove to be a historic league campaign with a brilliant 5-0 victory over title rivals NY Skulls on Sunday.

Chloe Wheeler (pictured below left) marked her first game for the club with a stunning hat trick while a goal each from Jackie Pounder (below center) – her ninth of the season – and Brittany Meade (below right) helped guide the charges of Paddy Geraghty and Tricia Reed towards a crucial three points.

The Rocks are now five points clear at the top having only lost once all season, that defeat arriving in a previous encounter with Skulls during Week One.

Chloe Wheeler

Jackie Pounder

Brittany Meade

“This was our biggest game of the year and I’m very proud of how our team responded,” said Paddy Geraghty.

“I’m delighted for Chloe to start off so well with us but even she will tell you it was the players around her that made it possible for her. We’re looking forward to playing at home next week and we can be confident going into every game now.”

Meanwhile, new signing John McGuigan also enjoyed the perfect start to his Rocks career, a well executed second half goal helping his new side earn a comprehensive 4-0 win over Beyond in Randall’s Island on Sunday afternoon.

Kevin Grogan praised his side as they marched on to the quarter-finals of the League Cup at the expense of the Division 2 outfit on the back of goals from Joey Zorbo, McGuigan (pictured below right), captain Darren Freeman (below left) and Tom Manz.

Darren Freeman

John McGuigan

“It was a good win,” said Grogan afterwards. “Four goals and a clean sheet. We showed good discipline. We tried a few different things with players and we learned a lot.”

Joey Zorbo opened the scoring early with a good finish but the Rocks really let loose in the second half. Belfast native McGuigan, who joined the club during the week, showed great movement up front and was rewarded with a great goal which he dinked over the advancing keeper.

A cracking free kick by Freeman from distance made it 3-0.

And then Tom Manz celebrated his return from injury with the fourth and final goal after brilliant work from Joey Zorbo and Mustafa Alobeidy.

Observed Grogan: “Stuart Colbert was a class act at center back today in terms of discipline and concentration and the two Zorbo brothers showed great work ethic and attitude. Darren Freeman captained us and he played like one. These are exciting times,” he added.

Rocks coaches Kevin Grogan and Stevie Doyle speaking to their team after the win v Beyond

Earlier in the Over 30s Cup, the Shamrocks Legends succumbed 2-3 to the Over 30s team of Hoboken, also at Randall’s Island in a well contested game that showed good promise for the league campaign ahead.

Eoghan McParland scored in his first game for the team, an excellent finish early in the game that had the Rocks 1-0 up. At 3-1 down, Tyrone Kent rocketed home from distance but it was too little, too late.

The Shamrocks Legends that took on Hoboken in the Over 30s Cup on Sunday

“A tough loss,” said player coach Emmett Harvey. “We scored two brilliant goals but gave away a penalty and two easy goals. It was very tight at the end and we threw everything at them for the last 20 minutes.

“Great game and great battling by everyone of my players but we just came up short in the end. We have a very strong squad and we are now focused on finishing as high up in the league as possible!”

Meanwhile in the Saunders Cup, Shamrocks 1960 were knocked out by Williamsburg International, losing 6-0 to a talented set of opponents. And in the late game, the Greek Americans were much too strong for Stevie Doyle’s reserves, putting eight past the Rocks with only Psul McDaid and Marc Vilson responding for the away side.

• Top-of-the-table clash for Rocks Women
• Rocks 1960 launch Saunders Cup defense
• Double header for first team and Legends
• Met Oval appointment for Doyle’s reserves

After a long three-month break from soccer, there’s a welcome return to the fray this weekend ahead of a crucial ten-week campaign that will hopefully turn out to be truly memorable 55th season of the NY Shamrocks Soccer Club.

League Cup action has four of the club’s teams back up and running on Sunday while the Shamrocks women’s team face their biggest game of the season in Brooklyn.

While all eyes will be on the triple header of cup showdowns at Randall’s Island for the first team, the Legends (2pm and 12pm respectively at Field 90) and Rocks 1960 (Field 73 at 4pm), our thoughts will be with NYWMSL Division B leading Rocks women who will be taking on fellow title challengers NY Skulls in New Utrecht at 1.30pm.

“We start with our toughest game of the season against the only team to beat us in the league so far,” pointed out women’s coach Paddy Geraghty.

“We’ve had a solid preseason and we’re ready to give it our best shot. We are still playing for two trophies so the ladies are very motivated. We’ve added Chloe Wheeler and Olivia Nadon to the squad and both have been excellent so far. We can’t wait to get started!”

As for the men, Kevin Grogan’s first team will be taking on Division 2 strugglers Beyond FC – formerly Nieuw Amsterdam – in a CSL League Cup clash that will serve as welcome preparation ahead of next weekend’s tough league game at unbeaten leaders Pancyprian Freedoms.

The Rocks warmed up with a friendly against high flying Division 2 leaders Zum Schneider on Tuesday night and have been preparing well for what is sure to be a gripping spring for the fourth-placed Rocks.

“We are delighted to be back in action this weekend after a good pre-season,” said Grogan.

“The League Cup gives us a chance to evaluate everything before we start the all important league campaign on the 20th. As always the league is our priority.”

Sunday’s curtain raiser will see a replenished Legends outfit take on the Over 30s team of Hoboken in what will be a tough workout ahead of the resumption of the league.

“We are really looking forward to the second half of the season,” said player-coach Emmett Harvey.

“We have strengthened our squad over the winter period and we have some players returning from injury. We hope to finish as high up in the league as possible. We won our last two pre-season games against CPR and Manhattan Celtic. Hopefully we can get a good result against Hoboken and go on a bit of a cup run.”

Later in the day, over on Field 73, Shamrocks 1960 will launch the defense of the Saunders Cup which the reserves won so memorably back in June.

This game will be a clash of two of the in-form Metro 2 teams as East division leaders Shamrocks 1960 take on Williamsburg who are riding high in the West.

Williamsburg have lost just once in the league and lie just a point behind leaders Gottschee who dramatically knocked the Rocks out of the State Cup in early December.

“It was a proud day winning the Saunders Cup and we are very much focused on reclaiming it for the club,” said player/assistant coach Neil Mannion.

“Naturally the league is our main aim and I’m sure it’s the same for them but both teams will benefit from the game. We enjoyed a good friendly Thursday night, beating Galicia 2-0 so the lads are looking forward to the season finally getting under way.”

With the Over 30s still involved in the State Cup, the only other game will see Stevie Doyle’s reserves head to the historic setting of the Met Oval for a late game Sunday evening away to the Greeks.

“It’ll be a tough game – they have really recovered from a tough start as expected,” said Doyle. “But this will be a good test for us and a very good workout.”

Club President Sean Mc Mullan and Treasurer John Riordan had the honor of attending the 25th annual Shamrocks mid-winter reunion at the home of Suzanne Mills in Malverne, Long island on Sunday afternoon.

Pictured with current club president Sean Mc Mullan (the tall one) are, from left to right, the first ever Shamrocks president Pat Rooney, one of the first players from the original 1960 team, also Pat Rooney and the first ever team manager Bill Barron.

Mrs Mills has been dedicated to keeping these amazing people in touch every January in order to keep the memories of that first decade of the Shamrocks alive. We presented her with a Shamrocks pennant and a club scarf  as a small gesture of appreciation for her part in keeping this vital history alive and thriving.

Our host Suzanne Mills being presented a club pennant by John Riordan & Sean Mc Mullan.

Also in attendance was noted Rocks stalwart John McCrosson who connected the current committee with this lovely gathering and it was also a pleasure to meet with the Halpin brothers.

The Shamrocks is going from strength to strength but we are always mindful of the great people who got this club going almost 56 years ago when it was a lot tougher to organize something like this.

Billy Barron telling one of many great yarns from the early days.

We heard about their great games and successes, their amazing social calendar and their vital and thriving support network. The first home field was in Central Park but the rivalries with other teams was as strong then as it is now. We also learned about the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Rising which was marked by a game against a traveling Aer Lingus soccer team.

They were delighted to hear that the club is going strong again and we updated them fully on all six of our teams. We are looking forward to welcoming them to Queens in the spring when we will hopefully have a few trophies to challenge for.

Thanks again to Suzanne Mills for hosting and to all of the great people we met and who welcomed us with open arms. They are a vitally important part of our club and they provide us with more inspiration to keep growing but also staying true to the values they built the club upon back in 1960.

The Irish Echo recently published an excellent feature about our women’s team in for their last paper of 2015.

UPDATE: Jay Mwamba kindly sent us the text of the article. See below.

SHAMROCK’S WOMEN BECOME FORCE IN JUST SECOND METRO SEASON

Call this the Irish era in New York area amateur soccer. In the last couple of seasons, two clubs, notably two-time champs Lansdowne Bhoys and Shamrock, have proudly flown the flag in the CSL, America’s premier amateur league.

Now the women are getting into the act.

Twelve months after their debut, the Shamrock team has emerged as a force in the New York Metropolitan Women’s Soccer League. Winless in their rookie season, the Irish lasses went into the winter break on top of the ‘B’ Division.

The Paddy Geragthy coached side suffered just one loss in all competitions in the fall –- and that was a 3-2 decision to ‘A’ Division leaders NY Magic in the State Cup quarterfinals.

“It’s like two different teams from [2014] to this year,” notes Geraghty, a long time Shamrock men’s team stalwart whose wife Tricia Reed co-founded the women’s side with Erin Cullen and Teresa Brink. “We didn’t win a game last year. This year we have won nine of our last 10 with our only defeat in the State Cup.”

And in addition to topping the standings, the Shamrock women are through to the league cup final after blanking Astoria 4-0 in the semi-finals in November.

So what led to this remarkable turnaround?

A number of factors, according to Geraghty.

They include an intensive recruitment effort that yielded gems such as the free scoring Sinead Hennessy and former college standout Teresa Ferraro; and the introduction of weekly training sessions at Harlem River Park.

Geraghty modestly glosses over his own impact as the team’s first official coach, a role he initially agreed to as “husband duty,” said wife and co-manager Tricia.

A former Purdue University player, Tricia Reed lauds her Dubliner husband’s contribution.

“Paddy has really embraced his role as our coach [and] no longer just as a ‘husband duty.’ He’s created a culture, and I get nothing but positive feedback from the girls. He understands the game better than any coach I’ve ever had, and is very strategic,” Reed said.

Co-founder Erin Cullen, a teammate of Tricia’s with the Harps in the Bronx Irish Soccer League before they launched the Shamrock women, concurred.

“The addition of Paddy Geraghty as coach has also expedited our team’s progress,” added Cullen, the team’s vastly experienced defense lynchpin whose playing career from youth level in New Jersey to the Shamrocks spans more than 25 years.

Thanks to the successful pre-season recruitment effort led by Tricia, Geraghty has a panel of 30 players to select his 18-member match day squad from every week. It’s a far cry from the sparse squad in Shamrock’s rookie season.

“The first year was really tough; we struggled for numbers every week for practice and games,” recalled Tricia. “We lost or tied most games, but every game we were playing with seven to 11 girls. I think we only had a [substitute] two games the whole season.”

Inevitably, as is always the case in soccer, or any sport for that matter, all the best made plans depend on the athlete[s] executing. Thankfully for the Shamrock ladies, their recruiting hit pay dirt.

SNIPER SINEAD

Forward Sinead Hennessy, from an athletic family with roots in Callan, Count Kilkenny, where her dad was a youth hurler, is one of the Lady Rocks’ massive acquisitions. Recruited by Cullen, she captains the side and has a team-high 17 goals from just 11 appearances for the club.

“I’m so proud to be a part of this amazing team and club,” Hennessy said. “We’ve worked our [socks] off to get to the top of the league and we’re grateful to be recognized for our achievements.”

She grew up in rural Washington State, honing her soccer skills with her six brothers under the tutelage of their father, and credits her Shamrock teammates for her prolific scoring.

The bad news for the Rocks’ opponents is that Hennessy is champing at the bit ahead of the spring action. “I’m looking forward to the second half of the season and continuing to dominate at the top of the division,” she says.

DREAM SIGNING

Midfielder Teresa Ferraro is another key member of the retooled Shamrock women’s squad. Geraghty calls her a dream signing.

“Her effort and enthusiasm in midfield rubs off on everyone else and keeps the level of intensity very high. Her will to win is matched by her ability which is very rare,” he said.

Ferraro was born in Queens of Italian immigrant parents and has been steeped in soccer from the age of five when she started playing in coed games.

She grew up in elite soccer programs including the Alberston Fury youth academy and the New York State Olympic Development Program. Later, Ferraro attended Marist College in upstate Poughkeepsie on a full scholarship and made the All MAAC Academic Team. Other honors followed including First Team All MAAC in her senior year.

For all her talents and credentials, it was, ironically, romance that brought Ferraro to the Rocks. Her boyfriend and favorite player, Zachary Gosse, is a defender on the Shamrock men’s team.

“He is the reason I joined the Shamrocks,” noted Ferraro. “He is a leader to his teammates and inspires me to be a better person.”

Buoyed by the success of the current side and the interest from other players, the Rocks are mulling plans to form another ladies team.

“We are hoping to create a second team for next year, and we have a lot of women interested already,” said Tricia.

There is, however, the challenge of finding permits for playing fields.

Shamrocks have been working with the Parks Department in Queens and appreciate the help of City Council Representative Elizabeth Crowley. The club views its need for more space to play and practice on as key to its expansion in 2016.