Big Apple ex-pats return home in style

THERE is added significance to some simple utterances being thrown around by the New York ladies football team as they disperse into the hot night at the home of the Rockland GAA club in Orangeburg, NY.

“We’ll chat in Ireland,” they promise each other. “For God’s sake, mind yourself,” Niamh Britton warns teammate Méabh De Búrca.

The air is heavy and we’re just close enough to the Hudson River for the mosquitoes to be at their most rampant. None of it matters. They’ve just had a tough training game but nobody’s tired.