We got the job done in New York, next is one of the best
WHAT an experience New York was for Sligo GAA. The pressure on this game was like no other and I mean no other, because there was so much at stake. Imagine the scenario if we flipped it and lost, because let’s be honest, everyone outside of Sligo wanted this to happen.
Heads would roll. County board, management and players would all come under great scrutiny and when this happens rash decisions can be made which can make things worse for everyone concerned going forward.
Thankfully everyone from the county board and clubs got behind us and as a team, we could feel this support as we navigated our way to the Big Apple. This navigation of course is never simple and every second has to be accounted for from start to finish. We were very lucky to have great back- up from the county board, led by our chairman Joe Taaffe. Peter Greene, our county treasurer, was in charge of logistics and he nailed everything. It was a huge undertaking when you think about it, from passports, visas, transport, accommodation, food, training facilities - the list goes on. The group wanted for nothing while in New York and that was all down to Peter.
To give you a flavour of what happens from start to finish, here we go. Depart Scarden Thursday 9am, arrive for lunch in Dublin for 12 noon. Head for the airport and arrive at JFK for 7pm. Bus waiting for us to bring us to Pearl River, which is our base for the week.
When we arrive at JFK, Declan Henry is there to greet us with fruit and water. Declan, who hails from Curry, was unbelievable in his support, as was another great Sligo man, Gerry McGwyne. These two men never left our sides. Other ex- pats helped out as much as they could and we were more than grateful to all of them.
So we arrive for dinner in the hotel for 8pm and then it’s straight to the leaba.
We meet for breakfast at 8.30am Friday morning. After breakfast we get ready to set off to Gaelic Park for our first training session. When we arrive the rain is pouring down. But in a strange way this is perfect because it gets us focused straight away. We train for an hour and the lashing rain and bitter cold, the session goes well.
Despite the weather alerts coming thick and fast, two Sligo men pull up in a jeep beside the bus and start to load in fruit and sandwiches. The support is unreal. Our journey back to the hotel takes about two hours because of the floods so the food is very welcome. We arrive back at about 4pm so the lads can chill out until dinner until 6pm, when we have a meeting to fine- tune our plan for Sunday. Then it’s dinner and bed.
Saturday starts with breakfast again at 8.30am and then the players meet at 11am. They split up into groups, again to fine- tune things for Sunday. They have a pool session followed by a light walk and then lunch. While this is happening Keith Carty, Noel McGuire, John Donnelly, James Conlon and myself head back to Gaelic Park to train the NY U14 team. It was important to leave the players at base to conserve as much energy as possible and our S & C coach Mark Fitz looked after them while we were attending to our other duties. It was great to see the enthusiasm of the young kids and we were delighted to be able to spend some time with them.
We went to the local shopping centre for a couple of hours in the afternoon. This was important because mentally you need a break from football. We arrived back for a team meeting at 6.15pm and at 7.30pm it was dinner and the leaba again. By now we were are all itching to go. On match day, we had a light walk after breakfast and left to be at Gaelic Park 80 minutes before throw- in. There was a real carnival atmosphere as we landed but our focus was to keep the heads down. It was obvious that the lads were very clued in because we have seen it in the past how players can be distracted by the hoopla but I knew going into the dressing room that we need have no concerns in that regard.
We put in a big performance and beat a well- prepared team that were fancied to turn us over. After the game I have media duties to attend and they seem to go on forever. I did radio interviews for our own Ocean FM and RTÉ which they recorded and played over the next couple of days. What happens with all these interviews is that journalists need to fill pages so they will hold off on a few quotes and release them whenever the feel like it. So if you’re thinking I was taking calls from the media after Sunday, I wasn’t. Anything I said was said immediately after the match. You have no control over it and in fairness, we have to respect that they have a job to do also.
Having done the job we came to do and done it well, we enjoyed a great evening in New York.
On Monday we had a recovery session in the pool. On Tuesday morning we trained in Rockland GAA and had a gym/ pool session in the afternoon. Then it was the dinner- and- bed routine once more. We had another pitch session on Wednesday morning before doing a video session in the afternoon. The focus has been switched to Mayo now.
After lunch we left for the airport and arrived in Dublin around 9am Thursday morning.
So as you can see, it was planned with military precision and I think we will benefit from the time we spent together to work on things in detail, as well as from having had a good test. And you can see too that there is so much that goes into being ready for a game of this magnitude.
We now earn the right to face one of the best teams in the country in their own backyard. This game will be a massive step up from anything we have played this year but it’s what every player wants. We are looking forward to this game and what we are looking for is a performance. To that end, we will keep the heads down and work smart and hard and see where it takes us. Roll on Sunday.