John Riordan: Hartnett's hurlers back in a New York groove

For the first time since 2006, a full New York senior hurling team will assemble for a meaningful competitive fixture in the new year.

EMPIRE BUILDING: The development is a humble but significant milestone in the growth of the game in the Big Apple and in North America. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

As a measure of my wide-eyed emigré-returning-home-for-Christmas status after over 12 years in the US, my brother's idea for a Riordan family field trip to the Croke Park GAA Museum on Tuesday was greeted with earnest joy.

What a great idea. We all jumped in his car and made the short trip from The Liberties to Jones Road where we quickly morphed into useless tourists braced against the Solstice eve breeze without match-day stewards to guide us. A little lost on the wrong side of the stadium, we piled back into the car to get ourselves over to the Cusack Stand side where the museum is located. Normal people are Christmas shopping, I remarked, and here we are at HQ deep into December.