Some things are more important than football
I HAD the pleasure of being in New York last weekend for Mayo’s Championship opener.
Gaelic Park is a surreal setting for a Championship game, which was played in blistering sunshine with a big crowd in the Bronx and trains passing by as frequently as Ryan O’donoghue scores.
This fixture has many critics. I played there twice for Mayo and wasn’t a huge fan of it.
That was mainly because I was always conscious of a big game against Galway or Roscommon a couple of weeks down the line and that there might be a bit of a hangover from the trip.
I hated any distraction. With flights and functions over there, you do engage with supporters more than you normally would around a Championship game and I would always have my guard up in this scenario for fear of some sort of mental softness kicking in. But last changed my opinion on the concept and its importance to the GAA.
It’s about more than the game. It’s a chance for the Irish diaspora all over America to come together for a weekend and celebrate what is great about the GAA. A ‘home’ Championship game is their All-ireland final.
It’s also a chance for the travelling county’s supporters to have a weekend of a lifetime, and the Mayo fans didn’t turn down that opportunity.
My stay was shorter than most. I arrived on the Friday and headed to an ‘Up for the Match’ in Joyce’s Bar on 39th Street, was organised by the Mayo Gaelic Football Club in New York which an old county under-21 teammate of mine, Marcus Hannick, is chairman of. Saturday in Times Square was like strolling through any town or village in Mayo with lots of familiar faces, all donning the green and red. I was taken aback at one stage by an ad for Portwest, one of Mayo’s sponsors, flashing up on a giant screen overhead. But I made a tactical decision to give the gathering of Mayo supporters in Times Square later that day a miss.
Despite a couple of late nights, I was awake early on Sunday morning and went for a ‘recovery’ run as far as Central Park. Whilst running through Times Square, I came across a few Mayo people on their way home from the previous night, and Aidan O’shea’s parents heading to Mass. Just another typical matchday!
I got to Gaelic Park three hours before throw-in and, already, there was a queue to enter the ground. Inside, the curtain raiser involving the New York Feile under-14 team, who are travweekend elling back to Ireland for the finals, and St Barnaba’s club was underway.
It was a big day for St Barnaba’s. Their clubman, Jamie Boyle, captains New York and is one of six homegrown players on the team. No doubt some future New York players were playing in the curtain-raiser.
The game itself was what you would expect. New York started with really good energy but there was no way they were going to be able to sustain that against a team like Mayo, who eventually ran out 15-point winners.
But, whatever happens the provincials in the coming years, I’m convinced, more than ever, that New York must be a part of the Championship.
Some things are more important than just the game itself.
This is an All-ireland final for Irish diaspora..