New York manager Justin O Halloran.
By Cian O'Connell
Two decades later Justin O’Halloran remains a believer. New York crave a Connacht Championship win and that is what they want to deliver at Gaelic Park against Leitrim on Sunday.
O’Halloran was part of the first New York panel to play in the Connacht Championship in 1999 and is now in charge of the team.
New York are hopeful about delivering another gritty display following recent near misses against Roscommon and Sligo.
“Personally it would probably be the best day on a football field ever,” O’Halloran answers when asked what a New York victory would mean.
“For the group I'm sure some of the lads have played on a bigger stage. As a group together it would be absolutely huge. The effort everybody has put in and I know teams are putting in the same effort at home. It is different when you are not getting games to play like no National League or whatever.
“It can be harder to keep yourself focused and motivated I guess if you want to put it that way. A win would be huge, absolutely huge.”
O’Halloran acknowledges that the desire for that triumph is essentially why he keeps giving such commitment to the New York cause. “That's true, I have a very young family and luckily enough my wife is very much on board with me doing this,” O’Halloran admits.
“The kids are very proud of me and I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it. I've been involved since it started 20 years ago and I know the nucleus of players we have now. I wouldn't be here if I didn't think we couldn't sneak a win.”
Former Mayo footballer Tom Cunniffe will captain New York against Leitrim.
In recent years New York GAA have worked with underage teams in the various clubs with O’Halloran accepting that a home win at the weekend would represent a boost for the game in the United States of America.
“I'm sure it would, you see in any lower tier counties at home look at Carlow what they are doing I'm sure has boosted their underage development,” O’Halloran adds.
“I'm sure if New York could produce the win it would be huge for this area and huge for the younger kids who could see it as something they could attain if they keep training and practising.”
Last month New York defeated AIB All Ireland Club champions Corofin in a challenge which was a significant boost to their preparations according to O’Halloran.
“It went very well to be honest,” O’Halloran remarks. “We played very well and competed hard, we wouldn't have got to Championship speed, but we have been playing in house games for the last two months and it was getting a little bit stale.
“The same guys marking each other and whatever, playing against the same fellas all the time. We feel good after it.
At the end of November we met for a couple of sessions before Christmas. We gave lads programmes to do over the Christmas and then we started back in mid January and we have been going three times a week since then.
“Weather wise we were lucky enough in that we didn't get a lot of snow, but it has been very cold. We were still able to keep going, to train away outside.” On those bitter nights New York dreamed about sunny May and the opportunity to earn an historic success. It is precisely what New York want to achieve on Sunday.
