Players swap shorts after brief encounter

THE minor footballers of New York and Galway gave each another more than the shirts of their backs after last night’s Connacht championship clash at Pearse Stadium.

Galway cruised to a 5-18 to 1-3 victory but at the game’s end the sides swapped shorts before undertaking the traditional exchange of jerseys.

Sportsfile photographer David Maher captured some of the exchanges.

He said: “There seemed a bit of uncertainty at the final whistle. Players seemed to hold off on swapping jerseys. Then a couple of them swapped shorts and it took off from there throughout the teams.

“There was a bit of a reaction from the crowd with a few wolf whistles as well.

“Then the two sets of teams got together a few minutes after that and I did notice a lot of players had started to swap jerseys. But it was a bit of a novelty for both teams – how often will they get a chance of getting a New York or Galway jersey again? The game was pretty one sided so this was something of a talking point.

“It was something that I have never seen at any game in any sport.”

Galway football secretary Seamus O’Grady said that their players were given special dispensation to swap gear with their counterparts from the Big Apple. He said: “It was the sense of occasion. Like most counties, usually we would not swap jerseys after a game but an exception was made last night in light of the fact that it was New York and it was such an occasion. Most of these players will probably never meet again.”