Kids in America: Why the GAA's transatlantic traffic will only get busier
HIGH STANDARD: Conor Meyler with Sean Powter of Cork during the football championship in Chicago.
There's a great old yarn that resurfaced on an All-Stars trip a few years back on America's east coast.
It centred on one of the crew of Ulster footballers in the early ‘90s that, after their Championship came to an end, went off to America on a sanction to play for the summer.
The player’s routine was to treat the weeks like he was Brendan Behan high on Broadway success, and then try to straighten up in time for the weekend game. Such a philosophy might have felt good, but the performance level started off wretched and plumbed the depths thereafter.
As his American team exited the Championship, having played like a donkey, the player felt under pressure with the whispering campaign in full swing during the post-match blow-out.
So he seized a microphone during a lull in conversation and, employing all his showmanship qualities, had the entire pub raucously singing ‘Sean South of Garryowen.’ A few clubmen looked on approvingly, one saying, “well we definitely have to get him out next year again!”
You wouldn’t get away with that now. The mindset of the modern player is a different species entirely.
Take Conor Meyler of Tyrone. After their early Championship loss to Armagh, contact was made by Parnells of Chicago. They previously had his county team-mate Darren McCurry over in 2018, and his reports were glowing of how it went.
Michael McKernan was considering the States. So too was his former Sigerson team-mate with St Mary’s, Barry O’Hagan, so he had company within the dressing room.
Meyler’s girlfriend had the summer off and he is studying for a PhD.
It’s something he never planned for, as he will admit, but all the various elements fell into place beautifully.
“I thought the opportunity had gone once I finished playing with Tyrone Under-21s. I was drafted into the senior set-up so I thought my American summer was gone,” he explains. “It was something that my dad had done and my uncle had done and it was something I did want to do. But you make a commitment to Tyrone and you don’t expect to ever get that opportunity.
“Because I am a county player, I knew nothing of the cut-off dates. But because I am a full-time student doing my Phd, once I was made aware of it, I had a number of different phone calls from different parts of America before settling on Chicago.”
After getting his bearings on the south side of Chicago, he made himself at home. It’s funny how it’s the little things make a difference.
For his first game, he bought a pair of Puma boots. When he took them off after his feet were covered in blisters and so he sent for his trademark, and somewhat rare among Gaelic footballers, Mizuno boots.
His first four weeks were spent in the library, catching up on research for his studies into Sports Leadership and Gender.
And then, just to see another side of life, he got a pair of work boots and did a fortnight labouring to a plasterer.
“It was character-building!” he smiles. “Up at half five in the morning, home at five in the evening, doing something you had never done before.
“Getting yourself up in the morning, away for the day of hard labour which I wasn’t used to. There was something nice to it because it was physically and mentally tough. Getting used to the heat and humidity out there was very difficult.
“I actually enjoyed it to be honest. But I tried to make sure you were still preparing yourself for training and matches.”
Anyone that catches Meyler’s occasional media contributions will understand that his preparation is a priority.
When a free week opened up, he grasped the opportunity to fly out to California and train with Austin Einhorn, a coach who has gained high testimony from the likes of Washington Commanders NFL offensive guard Wes Schweitzer, and Major League Baseball’s Mitch Haniger.
“I spent a full week there training, twelve plus sessions. He focused on how to move the body better and more efficiently, his knowledge was incredible,” Meyler reveals.
“I thought I was going to use this opportunity to learn as much as I can from as many people as I could and come home a lot wiser than I left.
“I wasn’t going out for a drinking summer. It was to learn. So when I went to New York, I met up with a couple of coaches over there. I met up with Daniel McKenna from Monaghan.
“I did the same when I was in Chicago, I trained with a guy Carmen Del Mastro there, once a week for six weeks, who works with pro athletes. He focusses on speed and power.
“Just to try to educate myself, learn as much as I could and come back a better athlete from it.”
Some of the people around him expressed their shock at such regimes. ‘Hey! It’s Miller time, man?’ But as he states himself, he gets more enjoyment from living that kind of life.
Coverage of games in America has become popular through streaming. This summer, games between Parnells and Pearses were being talked about on Irish shores, not only by superfans and nerds of Gaelic football, but because of the plethora of talented players suiting up and matching up against each other.
There have been warnings that this is just the start of an annual flood of players across the pond, due to laws of unintended consequences, blown apart by the split season. American clubs are now aware of the possibilities and the tapping-up process for 2023 has already began.
It still leaves players in an uneasy situation of informing their club of their intention to go away. However, with club Championships only really kicking in now in mid to late September, there is little real risk attached.
Antrim and Loughgiel hurler James McNaughton, along with county team mates, Keelan Molloy and Seann Elliott of Dunloy, put their summer in hurling for Tipperary in New York.
A CAD drawing technician with Creagh Concrete by profession, McNaughton was approached after Antrim’s involvement came to an end to see if he fancied taking a bit out of the Big Apple.
Happily, the company gave him a career break. He had already booked a two-week holiday to go to San Francisco so he just altered the flight home to divert by New York for seven weeks.
For McNaughton, informing club manager Hugh McCann was tricky.
“I was nervous about the conversation,” says the 25-year-old. “But I couldn’t fault Hugh at all. He was obviously disappointed that we were going, but he said, ‘Look, you can’t deny a young lad of 25 the chance to go out and do that.’
“He told me to go out, enjoy myself, hurl away and come back and hopefully I would be able to make the Loughgiel panel again.”
Meyler agonised even more.
“The biggest factor that I have to stress, was the fact I wasn’t going to miss the Tyrone Championship with my club. It wasn’t starting until the end of September and I knew I would be coming home with at least a months’ preparation before that,” says the Omagh man.
“Ultimately, I was going to be playing seven to nine games out there. And we played eight games in the space of eight weeks. I was going to be playing more games out there than I was at home from a league point of view.”
While McNaughton didn’t go to the same extremes as Meyler, for one as fair as him, the heat and wearing a helmet added another dimension to the training regime.
“(Losing fitness) was something I was worried about at the start, but once I came back and realised I was right there, I was delighted,” he says.
“The training itself was very similar to home. The difference was that every time you were training, the temperature was anything from 28 to 34 degrees heat. And that was on 4G pitches, so that is very hot. I had to wear two pairs of socks at all times so that I didn’t get blisters on my feet.
“Even on game day on a Sunday, most of the senior hurling games would have been in around 2 or 3pm, which is peak heat. It was tough, if you didn’t stay hydrated you would have been snookered.
“But with training, there were three pitch sessions a week and then you had a gym session so it was very similar to what you would be doing over here.”
While he was on the west Coast, he took in the delights of Lake Tahoe. In New York, there was always something to do, somewhere to be.
“It was an unbelievable experience. I would advise any lad that has the chance to do it, to go on ahead. It is a great life experience,” he explains.
“When you go out, you are living with a couple of mates, there are no family members around you. So you really float your own boat.
“I had great fun, met great people and obviously the hurling is of a great standard out there too. They are really competitive games and you train four times a week.”
After being beaten by Hoboken in the New York semi-finals, he returned in time for Loughgiel’s Championship group match defeat to Cushendall on August 21. The round-robin nature of the tournament, however, is another saving grace and they go into the county quarter-final this Sunday against O’Donovan Rossa.
Meyler and Omagh aren’t out in the first round of Tyrone until Saturday September 24, against Ardboe. But whatever about the traditional values of ‘blood and thunder’ Championship, anyone who caught the coverage of Parnells against McBrides will know it is something he was faced with in recent times.
Tactical fouling, runs blocked and targeted by opponents, Meyler had to overcome an evening spent in the trenches.
“The first game I played it was 31 degrees heat. That was challenging. The pitches are hard due to the lack of water. I found the calves and Achilles were flaring up, the joints were very sore post-game,” he recalls.
“It was physical. You have to be able to hold your own. You are aware of that and the way the game is played out there with only five ‘out of town’ players, we were very strong in that regard.
“We lost the final to a Pearses team that had a very good home base. So you are taking all those things into consideration when you are playing.
“The standard is excellent too. People take that for granted. The majority of games, you are matching up with other county players. Every game you play, you are up against a top-class county player and the expectation on you is very high so the games were very tough.
“If you pick up any knock and niggle – I had before the final so it made the final even more challenging – so it’s tough.”
Despite all the riches on the pitch, with Antrim’s Luke Mulholland, Rian O’Neill of Armagh and Ceilum Doherty of Down joining Meyler, McKernan and O’Hagan, Parnells lost that Chicago final to Pearses – with former Monaghan man Dessie Mone playing - in a game that ended up 4-14 to 1-9.
The result will be forgotten in short time, but the memories and the experiences remain.
“In fairness for me, the club (Omagh) were great. Very understanding,” says Meyler. “They understand the character I am and that I was going to be looking after myself. When I am at home, I give absolutely everything to the club, so you come home chomping at the bit, ready to play Championship with loads of time left.”
If in years before, the flow of players was a trickle, 2022 was a short gush. Next year could be a flood. League games back home might suffer in quality. To begrudge players would be churlish.
“I was surprised how many players had been out in the past. I wasn’t aware of it because it didn’t receive the same media attention. I think the media attention this year was just crazy,” says Meyler.
“There were some top, top intercounty players, the likes of Sean Cavanagh, Peter Canavan and these boys had been out in the past. Numerous All-Ireland winners from Kerry, Dublin boys, so it wasn’t the first time this has happened.
“It worked better with the split season, the players could go. It is something that has happened and will always continue.
“The GAA family and culture out there is huge. I couldn’t speak highly enough of Chicago GAA and the Parnells that I played with and everyone on the south side, they live and breathe football.”
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