This week the Big Apple footballers head to Yeats County to take on Sligo in the second round of the Connacht Championship in Markievicz Park, their home venue. The victory over Leitrim two weeks ago, after extra time and penalties, set the scene for this uncharted chapter in New York’s football championship history. These teams have met five times over the last two decades, with Sligo victorious each time. In 2002 they won by 1-19 to 1-11, in 2007, 2-18 to 1-3, in 2012, 3-21 to 0-6, in 2017, 1-21 to 1-13. Last year, although Sligo had four points to spare, 1-16 to 0-15, New York were very much in contention right down to the added time when the Yeats County with a few late points got them over the line. Indeed the Big Apple brigade had legitimate claims of being a tad unlucky as the woodwork thwarted three goal-bound efforts. In addition, Sligo survived a late goal-mouth scramble, where the ball bobbled hither and thither and apparently everywhere except over the crucial goal-line.
New York lined out against Leitrim as follows and I expect it will be quite similar against Sligo, baring injuries. There may be some positional switches, as many of the players are quite versatile, and I would have to admit that Connell Aherne must have enhanced his chances of being a starter based on his performance coming off the bench. The New York lineout was: Mickey Cunningham(0-1), Jamie Boyle, Alan Campbell, Eoghan Kerin, Bill Maher, Robert Wharton, Shane Brosnan(0-1), Johnny Glynn(capt), Gavin O’Brien, Mark Ellis, Adrian Varley(0-2), Shane Carthy(0-3), Mikey Brosnan(0-1), Peter Fox(0-1), Daniel O’Sullivan(0-1). Subs played were: Connell Aherne(0-4), Killian Butler, Matthew Queenan, Jack Reilly(0-1), Niall Madine, Luke Kelly, Tiernan Mathers and Paddy Boyle. Also listed on the squad the last day were: Adam Loughlin-Stones, Colin Keane, Padraig Stuttard, Shane Bolger, Daniel McKenna and James Breen. I have been informed that the complete panel is traveling to the game. I think that this is a very commendable approach as all these players have trained hard for the last four months, plus many of them they will be traveling later to represent New York in the junior competition. The rest of the panel: Alex Harvey, Mike Creegan, Conor Mathers, Danny Corridan, Dylan McDermott, Conor Lynam, Cian McArdle, Cathal O’Carroll, James Breen, Mike Boyle, Kevin Rafferty, Thomas Shalvey and Shane Bolger. Johnny McGeeney is the manager and all his backroom team is traveling as well. The selectors are Gareth Bailey, Brian Henry, Tommy Quaid, Kevin Moriarity and Michael Caterson. The backroom team also includes physiotherapists Sinead Burns and Thomas O’Brien, logisticians Sharon Redican and Ryan Logue and statistician Michelle Dowd.
Sligo’s Keelan Cawley in action against London on April 8. [Inpho/Juan Gasparini]
This historic meeting of New York and Sligo in the second round of the championship has all the hallmarks of developing into another close contest. Sligo would be regarded as marginally better than Leitrim, as they just edged by them in a recent league meeting. Both teams can legitimately claim to have made considerable improvements from last year. Well Sligo have the stats and the standings to prove it, and of course, the quote by former NFL head coach Bill Parcells, fits nicely here, namely, “You are what your record says you are.” Despite losing their first game to Laois, they went on to win seven out of eight games. Sligo beat Wicklow in the Division 4 final, 2-10 to 0-14. Victory was achieved with a powerful second half performance as Sligo battled back from being five points in arrears at one stage. Their score-getters were Niall Murphy(1-4), Paul Kilcoyne(1-0), Sean Carrabine(0-2), Luke Towey(0-1), Pat Spillane(0-1), Cian Lally(0-1) and Nathan Mullen(0-1). Sligo will now be performing in Division 3 next year. Their good form continued in the Connacht championship as they easily accounted for London at McGovern Park, 2-20 to 0-12, two weeks ago. The Sligo lineout was as follows: Daniel Lyons, Nathan Mullen(0-1), Eddie McGuinness, Evan Lyons, Luke Towey(0-1), Brian Cox, Paul McNamara(0-1), Paul Kilcoyne(0-1), Cian Lally(0-3), Keelan Cawley, Sean Carrabine(1-1), Finnian Carty, Pat Spillane(1-4), Paddy O’Connor(0-3), Niall Murphy(0-3). Subs Alan Reilly(0-1), Mickey Gordan, Donal Conlon(0-1), Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch and David Phillips. However the previous year Sligo needed extra time to defeat London in the Tailteann Cup, with Alan Reilly clocking 1-6. Incidentally Sligo’s top scorer, Pat Spillane, is a son of the former Kerry great, aka Pat, and the older Spillane stated a few years back that New York’s participation in Connacht was a colossal waste of money. Hopefully the New York boys will prove the former great one wrong on this occasion. The younger Spillane’s mother is a native of the Yeats County, thus making him eligible to play for mom’s county.
Sligo’s two longest serving players, Keelan Conway and Niall Murphy played against New York ten years ago in a very lopsided encounter. Murphy, one of Sligo’s chief score-getters, would be very familiar with the New York scene as he played for a season with the local Big Apple Sligo club, losing to St. Barnabas, an All-American-born squad in the New York final. So without reservations Sligo have improved considerably since they played here over a year ago, validated by plenty of wins and promotion to a higher grade.
Evan Lyons of Sligo takes a selfie with young fans at McGovern Park, Ruislip, London.[Inpho/Juan Gasparini]
Now how does that suit or sit with New York or do the Yanks have any chance against a team that seems to be very much in the ascendency ? You also have to agree that New York has also improved considerably from last year, due to the confluence of a few critical factors. In last year’s close encounter between the Big Apple and the Yeats boys, the woodwork helped save Sligo’s bacon. Manager Johnny McGeeney and his backroom team quickly realized that this close encounter could be the springboard or foundation for further progress. The panel enthusiastically endorsed this narrative, and thus training began before the year ended to ensure that New York would be as well prepared, if not better than their county-player colleagues in Ireland. For once the elements cooperated as we had the warmest and mildest winter on record, thus allowing training and preparations to proceed uninterrupted.
Over the years New York was often bedeviled by the instability of the panel, as players seemed to come and go. However that was not the case this year, as management was able to keep all panelists on board. Now they were more committed than ever, and their confidence was greatly bolstered after coming so close to Sligo last year. Naturally that confidence and commitment continued to grow as New York finally got that over that major hurdle, a victory in the first round of the Connacht championship after nearly a quarter of a century. New York’s stock got a massive boost early on in the season when a cadre of experienced intercounty players from the other side joined the Big Apple squad, Among them were Eoghan Kerin(Galway), Robert Wharton & Gavin Reilly(Kerry), Brian Maher(Tipperary) and Shane Carthy(NY/Dub). All these players contributed to the win, and Eoghan Kerin got nominated to the GAA.ie Football Team of the Week. I’m sure Johnny Glynn, Mickey Cunningham along with Wharton, Carthy and Reilly must have been in contention too for spots.
The majority of the sports pundits and armchair generals aren’t giving the Yanks much of a chance in this game. The same folks had Leitrim winning by three last week, and this week they have Sligo cruising home by much more. Some claim that New York was extremely lucky as Leitrim missed a bagful of goal opportunities. That’s one perspective, granted the wonderful display of keeper Cunningham was chronicled, but the sterling defensive work by the fullback line of Kerin, Campbell and Boyle wasn’t mentioned. The shooters weren’t exactly treated with kid gloves as they were manfully handled, harassed and hounded by the last line of the New York’s defense. Also the trio of Ellis, O’Brien and Wharton were quite effective patrolling the middle third of the field. I’m sure manager McGeeney will be addressing the facility that enabled several Leitrim players, such as Dolan, Plunkett and Heslin, to get to the firing zone without being suitably and seriously challenged. If this defensive vulnerability is not addressed, I’m sure Sligo’s sharp-shooters such as Carrabine, Murphy, Spillane and company will exploit it to their benefit on the score line.
There’s no doubt that this is a very talented, versatile, fit and well balanced team. Johnny Glynn is a powerhouse wherever he’s deployed, and all newcomers blended in with great impact into New York’s fluid and fast moving play. It was also great to see the confidence that the young Irish-American players displayed under testing conditions. Mikey Brosnan coolly blasted the ball to the net when the game was on the line and the younger brother Shane, besides operating very well in defense, showed that he could also hit the target. Shane Carthy, despite being away from the fray for a while, showed that he can still deliver, especially in tight and testing situations. A strong bench is a sine qua non in the modern game, and New York’s subs validated that premise. Connell Aherne, Jack Reilly and Niall Madine played their parts well, and all got critical scores.
For this game I’ve being informed that things are going well, apparently I’m no longer regarded as a spy. However, I didn’t tell them that my wife’s people are rabid Sligo supporters as most of them have relocated there over the years. The New York squad will be housed in Bundoran, away from the hustle and bustle of the Sligo metropolis, in one of Brian McEniffe’s hotels. Brian was a great Donegal player and of course successful manager in his day. Meanwhile the game is at 2:30, on Saturday, in Markievicz Park, Sligo’s home field. Obviously Sligo will have home-field advantage, and that will be a factor here as the pitch can be quite sodden, and New York have little experience of playing on natural grass, though they have traveled to Rockland a few times. Another interesting sidelight to this game is that both managers are from the same powerful Armagh club, Johnny McGeeney and Tony McEntee are originally from Crossmaglen. Here’s wishing New York all the best on Saturday, will see you there.
