It was a three currency, three thousand mile trip. Dollars, pounds and euro were required for a trip that had to be planned well in advance of when they’d know who they were facing. So when they were pulled out of the hat to face Offaly in Tullamore, they had already based themselves more than two hours away in Newry.
At the time, McGeeney vowed that they’d be better when the 2023 trip came around. They would be, he said, more organised and more prepared for the challenges that bringing a team across a few time zones presents. They’ve already crossed one Rubicon by winning a first Connacht championship game since they entered the competition. Now they’ll look to make another mark by becoming the first New York team to win here since 1984.
That came in the Gael Linn final when Mayo were beaten in Ballina. The Gael Linn final was usually played in New York and across two legs. But in ’84 it was brought back to Ireland as part of the GAA’s Centenary celebrations.
Earlier that week, New York had won a specially organised tournament for overseas units, beating an Australian selection in the final as part of a blitz of games that August.
Their success should have been no surprise. New York came home that week mob-handed and with a freakish number of players who would go on to manage inter-county sides.
Cork’s Billy Morgan was vice-captain and would lead Cork to All-Ireland success. Paddy Crozier would manage Derry. Charlie Mulgrew had a spell with Fermanagh. Lanty and Connie Molloy, brothers of Donegal 1992 All-Ireland winning captain Anthony, also played on that team. Connie would later manage New York. Roscommon’s John ‘Jigger’ O’Connor who scored a goal just 35 seconds into the 1980 All-Ireland final, also played.
Fran Ryder, the celebrated Dublin footballer of the 1970s and early ’80s, who was part of Pat O’Neill’s management team when Dublin won the Sam Maguire in 1995, captained the Exiles’ side
Ryder first headed stateside in 1980 to attend New York University with the late great, Brian Mullins. And for the first couple of years there, he hopped home to play with Dublin in the championship.
He kept his eye in playing with the Leitrim club in New York. But as a county entity, the Exiles were ad hoc at best, coming together as a team every year or two to play in the Gael Linn competition when a Connacht side visited.
But Ryder remembers things stepping up a notch when the trip back to Ireland in 1984 was announced.
“It was very serious,” Ryder remembers. “We did our celebrating after but we were all set on winning the ‘Welcome Home’ tournament. The Gael Linn was a bit of a bonus.”
Along with household names, Ryder points out that New York were blessed with other talented players. “Aidan Wiseman from Louth. He was an excellent player. Tom Colleran too, Paddy Gormley from Leitrim. And a great footballer from Waterford called Kieran Power, he was excellent. And two guys New York-born, John Brady – God rest him – of Cavan extraction. And Pat Carroll was born in New York and played midfield, an absolutely superb player,” said Ryder, who is now a successful publican in Dublin.
Memories of the win over Mayo have dimmed with time but Kevin McStay kicked three points on a day when Carroll and Ryder went toe-to-toe with Billy Joe Padden and Tommy Dolan at midfield.
Later that same week, Dublin beat Tyrone in an All-Ireland semi-final. The New York globe trot continued, this time pitching up in Ardboe to play the Red Hands at an official pitch opening.
Since then, New York have played here after their introduction to the Connacht championship. They were quickly granted home advantage in a bid to make them more competitive. However, their wait for a win only came earlier this year on a penalty shootout against Leitrim. Now they travel here to face an Carlow this Saturday in a Tailteann Cup preliminary quarter-final, looking to land another blow nearly 40 years on.