New York players urged to keep their cool against Sligo

NEW YORK panellists are being warned to be on their best behaviour if they have any hope of staging an upset against Sligo in Sunday’s Bank Of Ireland Connacht SFC tussle in the Bronx.

New York selector Pat Scanlan knows his players face an uphill battle whenever visitors come calling to Gaelic Park, which will stage the first championship match on an artificial surface this weekend following a $3 million (€2.2m) redevelopment.

Yet difficulty in getting proper preparation and a lack of match practice is not all the exiles have to contend with and Scanlan recognises the necessity of his players keeping their cool under pressure from a seasoned inter-county outfit.

“We can’t be giving away silly frees if we’re going to have any chance of winning,” Clare native Scanlan said. “Discipline is going to be a key factor. If we’re giving frees away inside the 40 those boys are not going to miss. They’ll have been taking those day-in, day-out and they’ve played a couple of rounds in the national league so we’re not to give away frees and we’re to tackle hard but within the rules.”

New York, managed for the second year in a row by Louis Holland, first met Sligo in the Connacht SFC in 2002, losing 1-19 to 1-11. Yet after demoralising defeats in 2004 and 2005, first against Mayo and then by Galway, when New York were hit for a combined 6-42 to 1-14, Scanlan is heartened by the signs of an improvement last year when the expats went down in more respectable fashion to Roscommon, 0-9 to 1-14.

“Last year we did pretty well. There was only a point in it with 11 minutes to go and they didn’t score for 27 minutes at one stage so our lads did very well. If we can get the same commitment from our backs and midfield this year and pick up in our forward line then I think we have a great shot.”

There are just six survivors from the starting line-up that faced Roscommon last May, former Tyrone Under-21 goalkeeper Chris Greene, ex-Offaly senior James Mitchell, 6ft 5ins former Kerry U21 Ken O’Connor and forwards Robbie Moran, Vinny Gavin and Mark Dobbin.

Captain Moran was one of two major doubts for the New York selectors, but has overcome a wrist injury while forward Dan Doona’s shoulder problem makes him an unlikely contributor from the bench.

Sligo have been preparing for the first championship match to be played on an artificial surface by training on Sligo Rovers’ all-weather pitch at the Showgrounds but New York only got their first taste of the revamped Gaelic Park field last Sunday night, having failed to secure any practice time on a similar surface in the city.

NEW YORK (SFC v. Sligo): C Greene; A Glacken, D Riney, A Foley, M Mitchell, J Mitchell, A Power; K O’Connor, S Russell; S Mullaney, R Moran (captain), V Gavin; R Garvey, K Lilly, M Dobbin.

Subs: S Clifford, D Doona, J Fitzpatrick, D Gallagher, C Hunter, N McGuire, J O’Halloran, D Reilly, C Skeffington.