On this day, New York almost sprung an almighty shock in the Connacht SFC at Gaelic Park - Joe Kernan's Galway escaped humiliation in the Bronx by the skin of their teeth.

The day was May 02, 2010

The score? Galway 2-13 New York 0-12

May 02, 2010

Connacht SFC quarter-final: New York boss proud of his troops

New York came within a whisker of causing one of the biggest championship upsets of all-time against Galway recently and despite coming up just short, the Exiles' Donegal-born manager Seamus Sweeney was proud of how they played.

Those who had questioned New York's involvement in the Connacht football championship got their answer on May 2 last when the Exiles gave Galway the fright of their lives at Gaelic Park.

In the days leading up to the game, officials in the Big Apple had strenuously defended the team's participation in the championship, insisting that they deserved their place and that their contribution of EUR40,000 towards flying out Joe Kernan's team was money well spent. But after their heroic but ultimately fruitless performance against the star-studded Tribesmen, it's unlikely that the same questions will arise when it's Roscommon's turn to visit the Bronx in a year's time.

"As far as I'm concerned, we deserve our place in the championship and our performance against Galway only reinforces that view," says New York manager Seamus Sweeney.

"Even if we hadn't played as well, it would still have been a great occasion for the Irish in New York and having a team like Galway over is great from a games promotional point of view. There is a huge amount of work being done to promote the GAA in New York and I take my hat off to the people involved in that."

The Donegal native also makes a case for New York to be included in the All-Ireland qualifiers, though he accepts that this would be difficult given the immigration issues and costs that would arise.

"I'd love to see the GAA tweaking the system so that we could be included in the backdoor series. But that would mean more money and then you'd also have the problem with the undocumented. But it seems unfair that we aren't entitled to a second chance like every other, especially after putting up such a great performance against Galway."

Very few gave New York a snowball's chance of upsetting the Tribesmen, who had finished their NFL Division 1 campaign strongly and were tipped in some quarters to make a strong bid for All-Ireland honours. But despite their only preparation being challenge matches against 2008 Kildare senior football champions Celbridge and a Boston select, the Exiles very nearly defied the odds.

An upset of seismic proportions looked to be on the cards until a late Galway scoring burst, which yielded 1-3, gave them a hugely flattering 2-13 to 0-12 victory. The raging hot favourites had veteran Padraic Joyce's haul of 1-7 to thank for pulling them through, while the home side's cause wasn't helped by the dismissal of two players in the third quarter.

Despite the boost of a second-minute Joyce goal, the Tribesmen struggled to come to terms with the stifling heat as a fired-up and hard-hitting New York team ripped into them. Galway manager Joe Kernan's fellow Crossmaglen native Johnny Murtagh kicked a couple of early frees and a sideline in reply to Joyce's early goal. Former Kerry minor Dan Doona and Dublin's Ronan Caffrey also found the target and New York were unfortunate not to be ahead at the interval but Sligo's Benny O'Reilly saw a great goal chance flash over the crossbar to leave it 1-5 to 0-7 in Galway's favour at the break.

The two teams parade before the game at Gaelic Park. ©INPHO/Peter Marney.

Padraic Joyce added a point on the restart before New York midfielder Pat Madden was sent off on a second yellow card in the 48th minute. And they suffered another huge setback six minutes later when Murtagh picked up a second yellow card for a late tackle on Finian Hanley and he also received his marching orders.

When Joyce pointed the resultant free to make it 1-10 to 0-10, it looked as though Galway would pull away, but Seamus Sweeney's charges refused to give up and three points from Doona had the margin down to the minimum before the visitors responded with late points from Joyce and Clancy, and the match-winning goal from substitute Cormac Bane.

"Thirteen men for 20 minutes," Sweeney said to his players in the dressing room afterwards.

"Kerry, Armagh, Tyrone - those big teams - couldn't have done it. Everything we asked you for, you've done it. I'm proud of you and proud to be here."

Galway manager Joe Kernan also praised New York's bravery when he addressed their players after the game.

"You put your heart and soul into it. You have to build on this. There is no good doing it one day and be happy with that. You want to move to another level," the 2002 All-Ireland winning manager with Armagh said.

"There is more in you. I don't know who is coming next year but I will be ringing them and warning them. It's about the effort you put in and you should be proud. You scared the s***e out of us without a shadow of a doubt and deserve all the credit."

Sweeney and his selectors Mickey McNeill (Tyrone), Connie Molloy (Donegal), Justin O'Halloran (Cavan) and Tony McTeague (Mayo) have clearly made huge strides with a New York team that had suffered some heavy championship defeats down the years.

"When we took on this job at the start of the year, our objective was to put New York football back on the map and I think we achieved that," he reflects.

"Our preparations for the Galway game couldn't have gone any better, although it was a major disadvantage not to have played any competitive games. We had over 40 training sessions, but at the end of the day, there's no better preparation than playing competitive games which we didn't get."

Seamus has been involved in the American GAA scene since he arrived in Boston as an 18-year-old in the early 1990s. A native of Dunfanaghy, where he played with his local club St. Michael's, he lined out with Donegal Boston for a short time before moving to Philadelphia, where he has remained ever since. His commitment to the New York cause was underlined by the fact that it took him up to three hours to get to training.

In 2007, the construction company owner captained and managed Donegal Philadelphia (then Four Provinces) to an historic New York senior football championship success at the expense of Leitrim. He was assisted by trainer Colm McFadden, who is father to the Donegal football star of the same name.

Much to Seamus' disappointment, Donegal Philadelphia are no longer allowed to play in the New York championship.

He explains: "After we won the New York championship, Croke Park ordered that we go back and play in the Philadelphia championship, which has only one other senior team (Kevin Barry's). We need to be getting more games, but unfortunately that's not happening at the moment."

Galway - E O Conghaile; K Fitzgerald, F Hanley, A Burke; D Meehan, G O'Donnell, D Burke; B Cullinane, N Coleman; G Sice (0-1), F Breathnach, J Bergin; E Concannon, P Joyce (1-7), N Joyce (0-4). Subs: M Clancy (0-1) for Breatneach (h/t), T Fahy for D Burke (h/t), C Bane (1-1) for Cuilinane (42), D Cummins for Sice (57).

New York - P Ryan; L Maguire, B McGourty, C McCarron; J Bell (0-1), A Raftery, A Power; P Madden, A O'Connor (0-1); J Murtagh (0-4), P O'Hara, J Kelly; R Caffrey, D Doona (0-5), B Reilly (0-1). Subs: K McGeeney for Caffrey (22), R Donavan for Reilly (53), J Moynagh for Bell (55).

Ref: M Condron (Waterford)

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