New York so good they win tie twice

NEW YORK’s footballers scored their second win over Clare in five days at Gaelic Park on Saturday night, with a 1-8 to 0-9 challenge match victory.

The Bannermen were in New York for a six-day training camp upstate and agreed to play the exiles at each end of their trip.

John Kennedy’s side lost the first game in the Bronx 0-20 to 0-16, less than 24 hours after stepping off the plane at JFK airport, but returned to an overcast Gaelic Park at the weekend looking much sharper after their spell in the Catskill Mountains.

What had not changed, however, was the physicality of the New York panel and a robust opening half saw plenty of strong challenges which left the visitors trailing by 1-2 to 0-4.

Clare pulled back into contention at the re-start, thanks in the main to the free-taking of Rory Donnelly, and took the lead halfway through the second period at 1-4 to 0-8.

But New York rallied and finally put daylight between them and the visitors six minutes from time, before pulling away for another morale-boosting victory ahead of Galway’s visit to the Big Apple on May 15 for a Connacht SFC opening round clash.