Major final for Big Apple

New York will host one of the National League finals as part of their county board’s centenary celebrations in 2014.

As previously reported, the Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA) had been keen to see a major game staged in the US as part of their fundraising initiative with Irish-American business.

GAA president Liam O’Neill revealed the idea of a prominent fixture taking place in New York had already been on the table prior to the GPA’s support for it and will be discussed by association officials next week. He also said it could be the start of a series of games taking place outside of Ireland.

Although the New York County Board’s hopes of the 2014 Annual Congress taking place in the city have been ruled out, either of that year’s Division 1 football or hurling final could take centre stage there.

“You could speculate that a league final would be considered and you wouldn’t be too far off,” said O’Neill before adding, “That [New York’s centenary year] opens up the possibility of us hosting a major final in New York. And I think given what New York has contributed to us, we would have to look at any request like that very seriously.

“We’ll be working with that to mark that [centenary] significantly. We’re talking about a significant final and we are putting this on the table for management committee next week so we can get our initial thoughts on it.

“New York’s centenary is a huge event. It’s to find the game that would give the exposure and build it around a weekend of activity that would showcase New York.

“If we’re ambitious about being international, we have to step off the island occasionally for games like that.

“I know ’47 [Kerry-Cavan All-Ireland final in the New York Polo Grounds] was a big game, but it’s still being talked about. I don’t think Congress, if we held it here, would be spoken about in five years’ time.”

The last National League game played in New York was in 1997 when Kerry and Cavan played on Randalls Island to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of the ’47 All-Ireland decider between the counties.

“It’s something we’ve been talking about for a while — the idea of playing games here. 2014 will provide us with the possibility of playing a few games here to celebrate the New York centenary.”

Congress in New York was not an option for O’Neill.

“We had a situation where New York wanted to bring the Congress here. That was just not on. We said ‘no. That’s just not going to happen’.

“We spoke to New York and said: ‘let’s look at what’s possible as opposed to what’s not going to work’.

“Bringing Congress here would be unjustifiable in the current economic climate and Congress is enough of a cost to the organisation without bringing it to New York. I don’t think a weekend where people gather in a hall is going to make a huge impact.”

O’Neill, who will be in the final year of his three-year term in 2014, insisted the idea is not pie in the sky.

“Sometimes it’s not enough to say that you support something. Platitudes are not what I am about — I’d rather do something.”