New York GAA chairperson Joan Henchy speaks in the dressing room after the Connacht GAA Football Senior Championship win over Leitrim. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
By Cian O’Connell
On Thursday morning the New York players, management, and officials will arrive into Dublin Airport.
Saturday’s Connacht SFC Semi-Final against Sligo at Markievicz Park is edging closer and a sense of excitement is still sweeping through the New York GAA community.
“It has been crazy, but a good crazy, we are doing things we wouldn't normally be doing at this time of the year,” New York GAA chairperson Joan Henchy acknowledges.
“Obviously with the split season things are much earlier than we are normally used to so trying to get flights, accommodation, and transportation, getting everybody on to flights, getting all the lads to send passport details - it is challenging, but there is a great team working on it right now so we are lucky with the committee doing it.”
Despite the chaos there is no sense of panic. During the past decade significant work has been carried out in New York. The fact that the current senior panel is sprinkled with homegrown footballers matters deeply.
“We took a really good look at ourselves about 10 years ago,” Henchy says. “We had to just really focus, to put a plan in place, where you are going when you win a Division One Féile boys our you have Division One Féile girls - where we are going as a county and where you want to go from there.
“The first round of the Connacht was what we were hoping to do, but I don't think it is any major surprise to anybody that follows the GAA, particularly anyone that follows us. We are knocking on that door for a long time, we have had so many close calls.
“We took Roscommon to a point, we had extra-time against Sligo and Leitrim twice.
"Going to penalties wasn't something that was on the cards, it is just the whole pathway towards development here and offering our young American born players, giving them the vision, we certainly did that the other night.”
Regardless of how the Connacht Championship adventure unfolded, a sense of optimism exists in New York. “There is an awful lot of development going on here,” Henchy adds.
New York defeated Leitrim in the Connacht SFC at Gaelic Park. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
“Our development is from U7 - we even have kindergarten - football, hurling, ladies football, camogie. We have college teams, Féile teams, we have an amount of teams going home this year.
“We have three Féile teams, an U17 development team going, a U17 camogie girls, a U12 or U13 team in different competitions outside of Féile. We don't have enough competition here ourselves. We won't get a competitive game, we need to be playing against the best in Ireland.”
Emerging players have been assisted through competing on juvenile and third level trips to Ireland. Opportunities have been provided and the win over Leitrim ensures young players in New York witnessed an historic encounter.
“We haven't dealt with this before, but in the big scheme of things this is exactly what we have been looking to do,” Henchy remarks.
“It is exactly what we wanted to do - providing that pathway and opening it up beyond that one game a year. We have proven not to the youth in our own organisation, but to the naysayers that New York, London, and the wider global GAA - that we belong, plain and simple, we belong.”
Respect has been earned by Johnny McGeeney and his New York team. Since 1999 New York endured demanding days and defeats in the championship, but Henchy highlights the value of the lessons learned.
“I think I said it in the dressing room to the boys that night when we all went back into the dressing room - everyone was elated - I just reminded our senior team that the reason they were able to enjoy that win, even though they were the ones that got the win, it was from the hard work done in years prior by all of the other men, who put on those jerseys and had the heartaches,” she states.
“They had slatings, they took plenty of criticism, so on and so forth down through the years, but they set the path. They were the ones that laid the foundation for the boys.
“It has just taken a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication from coaches and county officers, development squads, and fantastic GDMs and GDOs, who have really just put a huge emphasis on providing that pathway and competing at the highest possible level, to keep pushing on.”
New York GAA’s journey continues.
