Embrace New York, and GAA opens up a whole new appealing vista

Jack Reilly of New York, centre, celebrates after Leitrim miss a penalty during the Connacht GAA Football Senior Championship quarter-final match. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

THE uniqueness of a Championship trip to New York can be summarised in many wild and wonderful ways. At the half-time break of the 2017 quarter-final, Sligo held a narrow lead. We worriedly packed into the dressing room and took a few minutes to gather our thoughts. After a handful of Jelly Babies, a bathroom break was my next priority.

I queued the location of the urinal, behind a long line of supporters. “Ye are in a bit of bother,” one suggested. Supporters offering insightful analysis to players of the preceding 35 minutes is not something on offer in all championship venues.

I returned to the dressing room enlightened and amused. This amusement was quickly parked to focus on the bothersome matter of plotting a way to hold on to our tenuous lead.

Gaelic Park certainly brings bother to Connacht teams vising the Bronx. For 24 years the visitors were able to successfully overcome the bother. With varying degrees of difficulty and on occasion a lot of luck. On Saturday last, that ran out. A great win for a hugely talented New York. A heart-breaking penalty shootout defeat for Leitrim. Emotional scenes. A momentous day for those involved and for those who have toiled behind the scenes to keep the GAA thriving 3,000 miles across the Atlantic.

New York is home to some of our greatest gaels. A microscopic snapshot into a diaspora with tentacles deeper and more widespread than the cities vast subway system. On championship visits with Sligo, two Curry GAA men ensconced in the Big Apple welcomed us like Ballina would welcome their POTUS. Everything was taken care of and a band of helpers they had on speed dial. Everything from opening pitch gates, extra mash on dinner plates to ferrying lads to JFK for post-match flights home to sit Monday exams. 

Paul McDaid, a St John’s GAA man, is the new generation of gael in NY. A mid 30’s chatterbox who looks after visiting players like a father. Employing them and ensuring the shifts happen to fall nicely around training and game schedules goes unspoken. He then finds time to squeeze the creaking joints into the jerseys of the Cork senior and Sligo junior teams for weekly action. Three of many heroes carrying a torch for the game. 

The momentous win over Leitrim and the ensuing delight for those heroes belies a reality. New York should not be in the Connacht Championship. New York deserve better from the GAA. One win in 25 years will always garner lots of, short-term, attention. Misty-eyed portrayals of perceived romanticism. The work on the ground deserves more. More than one guaranteed home game per year and more than the possibility of an unspecified number of further games each year at venues 3,000 miles away. Sustainable growth of the game across US-born players deserves incorporation into the GAA calendar.

New York’s increased competitiveness is brilliant. It is a powerful reflection on what the association can become outside Ireland. Their success should ultimately end their inclusion in the Connacht Championship.

If all parties are honest, their 1999 Connacht Championship inclusion was a gesture to help promote football in NY, a token gesture of inclusion. Accepted by all on the assumption they would not become consistently competitive. Scares for Division 1 sides Galway (2010) and Roscommon (2016) were dismissed as outliers. Scares for Sligo and Leitrim in 2017, 18, and 2022 were a trend. Last Saturday’s win over Leitrim was a logical progression.

The underage work is evident in the quality and quantity of homegrown players. The new demographic of the Irish emigrant in NY can commit longer term in part due to more practical visa arrangements. Bill Maher and Alan Campbell are Munster championship winners, Eoghan Kerin an All-Star nominee, Gavin O’Brien and Robert Wharton have been deemed worthy of Kerry involvement, Adrian Varley has punched in Division 1 seasons for Galway, Shane Carty has two All Irelands with Dublin. A side with that talent could beat most teams outside Division 1.

The fixture schedule published by the GAA ahead of this season could easily be interpreted as an insult to NY.

“New York will enter the Tailteann Cup at the preliminary quarter final stage” (i.e., we assume they will not make a Connacht final and we will pitch them into the Tailteann Cup after each of the other teams has played their three group games, and hopefully they lose that or we are in a proper pickle as to how we get them back across for another 1-3 Tailteann Cup games).

The ironic twist? If they do reach a Connacht final they will have to play their three group games in the Sam Maguire competition. Please don’t tell me these rules were arrived at on the hope/assumption that they would not win games? What other competition across the planet starts off with this implied, if blatant, disrespect for one of the competing teams?

The pros of a thriving GAA scene in the USA are clear and simply brilliant. A reflection on the investment of generations of work. What are the cons of how the GAA currently incorporate New York teams into competition?

Unpredictability: Championship by its nature is unpredictable. Teams and players in Ireland struggle to plan their lives around schedules that can change very suddenly depending on the outcome of matches decided by last-minute scores, extra time or even penalty shootouts. Is it practical for 30 amateur players to plan up to five transatlantic trips to Ireland, in a 2-3 month period, with 10 days’ notice each time?

If we agree this is not practical for an amateur team,  then we are effectively including a team in a competition where their is an assumption they will lose their game/or games. This assumed loss is a necessity to maintain the competition schedule.

Why should the GAA incorporate NY teams into its competitions? To give their ever-growing quantity and quality of home-grown players an opportunity to take on established teams from Ireland. A guaranteed annual opportunity. To give inter-county standard players whose lives have brought them from Ireland the opportunity to play at the highest level. To reward the great work of those who have done and continue to grow our games stateside. To give the diaspora in the USA the opportunity to enjoy the skills of our best and meet their heroes. Sustaining the link to home for some, an excuse for relatives to visit their patch, and inspiring American kids to pick up the O’Neills and emulate their new heroes.

How could the GAA incorporate NY teams into competition? Any answer has to involve key aspects. A predictable schedule to allow for planning transatlantic games and the associated travel. Equitable treatment of NY teams and no assumption of defeats. A sustainable platform to give the best possibilities for the continued growth of our games in the US.

Some Options - Option 1: Include NY in Tailteann Cup group stages. NY travel to Ireland for 10 days and play two games on successive weekends. The remaining group game is held in Gaelic Park. Three guaranteed games for New York but one glaring flaw remains - f they finish between first and third, they will then have to play a further one to four games with between seven and 14 days notice. Not equitable or practical.

Option 2: An annual autumnal festival of football in New York. Bright lights, huge crowds, TV coverage, knockout football, All-Stars. Our friends across the Atlantic can create events and fanfare in ways we could never. Imagine the possibilities. Week 1: NY, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco inter-county teams play two semi-finals. Two winners progress to Intercontinental Cup. Two losers go to thre Intercontinental Shield. Week 2: The Intercontinental Championships. The Division 1–4 winners from Ireland travel to New York. Wednesday Night, Division 3 and 4 winners play the US teams in Inter-continental Shield semi-finals. Eg Cavan v Philly, Sligo v Chicago.  Thursday Night. Division 1 & 2 winners play the US teams in Inter-continental Cup semi-finals. Eg. Mayo v NY and Dublin v Boston Saturday Evening: Intercontinental Shield Final. Sunday: Intercontinental Cup Final.

Meaningful and equitable intercounty action for US teams. Our best teams getting the opportunity to travel as a group as a reward for their league success. Sporting and social nirvana for players, supporters, kids and ex-pats. A TV spectacle. An annual surge of energy for the GAA abroad.

Last year's Tailteann Cup trip for New York to Offaly created some great stories of players and supporters returning home. Keep that option on the table. Ensure it happens every year. 

Don’t confine the intercontinental action to inter-county level. Our club champions play at senior, intermediate and junior level play their New York counterparts in Croke Park curtain raisers to big June/July inter-county games. The World Club champions are crowned. A great weekend for all those travelling to play and support. Fun and football, bringing together friends, families and exiles who played together decades ago. Who knows, maybe the visiting teams could take the opportunity to have some lucrative fundraisers while across the Atlantic...