On a brisk Halloween night at Tibbetts Brook Park, Lansdowne Yonkers went trick-or-treating in the 2027 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup third qualifying round, reeling in six goals in exchange for one against old rivals New York Greek Americans.
Danú Kinsella Bishop, the Bhoys’ former League of Ireland ace out of Dublin, bagged his second hat-trick in three weeks as Lansdowne run rampant against the four-time U.S. Open Cup winners. Danú’s first hat-trick was in a 4-1 rout of Richmond County in the APSL last month.
Coming off a goalless tie with another Greek foe, Leros, in the American Premier Soccer League [APSL] Metropolitan Conference the previous week, the high scoring Bhoys took 11 minutes to open the floodgates.
That’s when Lansdowne defender Nicolas Macri Badessich drove some 40 yards forward from deep in his own half to lay a sumptuous ball to Ali Dawha, who was flawless in his finishing. He slipped a low shot past Greek goalie Constantine Christodoulou’s right side.
Nine minutes later, Danú struck the first of his trey. The goal came moments after goalie Constantine had denied Sam McCann one-on-one. On Lansdowne’s second wave of attack, Danú received a pass from right winger Liam Salmon and from near the penalty box placed the ball to Constantine’s right and into the far post.
Danú made it 3-0 in the 28th. From Ethan Homler’s corner, big center-back Balo Danso, lurking at the back post, headed for the prolific striker to slam in with his right foot from point blank range.
Lansdowne increased their lead to 4-0 in the 36th minute, courtesy of another Homler corner. His in-swinger was headed down by Dawha to Aitor Jorde, who laid the ball back for Salmon to rocket into the net past the hapless Constantine.
They took that advantage into the locker room at half time.
On resumption, the Greeks, U.S. Open Cup winners in 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1974, attempted a fightback. Eight minutes after the restart, the lanky, ginger-haired Scott Testori pulled one back for the Greeks with a clever chip over goalie Tyler Krongard on the break.
But any hopes of a Greek rally were dashed in the 61st minute when Danú completed his hat-trick with the easiest of finishes at the far post from a low Sam McCann center.
Substitute Melvin Pierre Louis sealed the scoring 60 seconds after his introduction in the 65th minute. Released by Marco Charnas, he tore down on the right wing and connected from a tight angle to make it 6-1.
To get to the U.S. Open Cup third qualifying round, Lansdowne blanked Red Hook FC 3-0 in the second qualifying round and New York Athletic Club in the first round.
A record 155 amateur clubs -- including the Bhoys -- entered the qualifying rounds this year, competing for 16 available slots in the tournament proper, which kicks off next spring. The qualifying rounds will conclude Nov. 21-22, with the 16 advancing clubs set to face off against professional clubs in the tournament proper.
