A New York Hurley talks Dublin football
September 16, 2010Last month marked a rare anniversary in the life of Paul Hurley. It wasn't a wedding anniversary, nor a milestone birthday. It was something more life-defining than all that - 25 years had passed since he took the decision to board a plane to New York, armed with hopes, dreams and a few hundred dollars in his back pocket.
From Finglas in north Dublin, where the Erins Isle club is the all-encompassing GAA presence, Hurley counts himself among the same vintage as famous former Isle and Dublin stars such as the Mick Deegan, Charlie Redmond, Kevin Barry and the Barr brothers, Keith and Johnny.
Whereas they would find their fame on the Croke Park stage, Hurley was making a name for himself in far off America. Not that it came without plenty of hard work and toil. "When I arrived, I started off mopping floors, as a busboy and a barman," he recalls. "I was making a lot in tips and the dollar was great so I saved hard and bought my first bar in 1990."
His initial foray into the business could hardly be described as a roaring success - six years later he sold the place and took another job behind the bar. What went wrong? "Nothing really," he says. "I was very raw - I was only 23 or 24 years of age when I bought it. The money wasn't in it, I was just working for a living. There were three of us involved but I think I was doing all the work, so when the opportunity came to sell up, I did. But it was a great learning experience - dealing with business people, liquor tradesmen, landlords, all that stuff."
When the chance of making a second start in business arrived in 1999, Hurley grasped it with both hands, and the name PD O'Hurley's, which would quickly become a staple of the New York restaurant and bar scene, was born.
So, given that there is no "O" in his surname, did he opt for O'Hurley's to reinforce a twee sense of Irishness that could appeal to the New York clientele? "No," he laughs. "To be honest with you, that came about by accident. I called it Hurley's at first but there was a famous steakhouse in the Rockefeller Center at the time with the same name and the giant took the little fish to the courts. The judge backed me up, said the man had a right to use his name. He told me to stick an 'O' in it and there'd be no more problems!"
That episode helped to get the name out there much more effectively than a major marketing or advertising drive may have done. "We got a lot of press out of it. ABC Television, the New York Daily News, the New York Post - they were all interested in the story, so all the publicity helped us to get on our feet."
Since those legally-challenged first steps into Paul Hurley's second business venture, there's been no looking back. The Dubliner currently has four restaurants in New York. As well as the standard bearer, PD O'Hurley's on 72nd Street, Pier 84 on 44th Street, Hudson Beach Café in Riverside Park and the recently acquired O'Casey's on East 41st Street, which joined his portfolio in 2009.
There is a GAA link to O'Casey's, the first of many one discovers when you talk with Paul Hurley for any length of time. "My landlord there is Pat Cooney, the first cousin of GAA President Christy," he says, "and we had the pleasure of having Christy for lunch recently."
Paul is heavily involved with the Dublin GAA club in the Big Apple - he describes himself as "assistant manager, PRO and one of the sponsors". He was also one of the men behind re-establishing the Dublin club, which was initially founded in the 1960s, shortly after his arrival in New York. "When I came out here in 1985 there was no Dublin GAA club," he says. "We started it up again with the help of a great old man from Finglas, the famous Larry Looby, who was 80 or so at the time, and John Houlihan from Ringsend. Kevin Barry, who's also an Erins Isle clubman and had been on the Dublin team in the early '80s, came out here for a number of years and he was part of the club as well back then."
The Dublin GAA club lapsed for a while before being reborn with a vengeance over the past decade or so, winning the New York junior championship to progress to the intermediate grade. Off the field, too, the New York branch of Dublin GAA has been making giant strides, with Dublin stars past and present making regular trips to New York for the club's annual dinner dance. "Guest of honours down the years have included Tony Hanahoe, Jimmy Keaveney, Brian Mullins, Kevin Moran, Tommy Lyons, Senan Connell and Dessie Farrell. We've also had Shane Ryan and Paul Casey out over the last couple years, and the occasion is always a massive success."
Not that the Dublin GAA club is restricted to city boys from home. "I'll tell you something," says Paul, "we are from everywhere. We have lads from Mayo, from Limerick, we have four lads from Cork. They're based all over as well, in Queens, the Bronx, upstate New York. More than anything it's a great social club. Everyone involved in the club gets great fun and parties and a great social life out of it."
Looking at events on this side of the great expanse, Paul has been hugely encouraged by the improvements made by the Dublin team under Pat Gilroy this year. "I was home in Ireland last Christmas and I went to the game between Dublin and the Blue Stars. It was a freezing cold day and there were a lot of younger lads on the team, but that day I said to myself, 'We have the makings of a decent team here' and that's been backed up ever since. Alright, things didn't go great in the early rounds of the championship but they had a great run in the league and after getting knocked out of Leinster they had a great run through the qualifiers. I was home for the Armagh game which was a great performance, and they were fantastic against Tyrone.
"Pat Gilroy has been doing the right thing - he has a 20- or 25-man squad there now, and the whole thing is about a big team effort. Bernard Brogan has had a great year, Eoghan O'Gara is very raw but he got stronger and stronger with every game, Michael Dara McAuley has been brilliant. When you've good players like Eamonn Fennell and Darren Magee barely getting a look-in, it shows how strong the panel is."
If you think that Hurley's booming businesses and his keen interest in the Dublin GAA club would take up all his time, you'd be wrong. He's a proud family man, having married Finglas girl Finola Doherty and the couple have a seven-year-old son Desmond, named after Paul's father who died all too prematurely at the age of 39. "That was tough on my mother," says Paul, "bringing up six of us in Finglas on her own at that time."
In addition to work and family life, he is a trustee of the New York St Patrick's Day Parade committee, the oldest parade in the United States, says he is proud to be a member of the Knights of St Patrick in New York and has been the President of the United Restaurant and Tavern Owners association, which represents more than 3000 bars and restaurants in New York, for the past seven years - "they can't get rid of me," he jokes.
On top of all that, Hurley has also invested time and money in a philanthropic venture called Failte 32, a committee which helps young Irish immigrants arriving in New York without money, jobs or contacts, with the involvement of the New York GAA, the New York Irish Center, the Coalition of Irish Immigration Centers and the Irish Business Organization of New York, amongst others.
Paul explains: "Failte 32 came about last September or October when I saw a story in the New York Daily News about a young Irish girl who came out here but couldn't find work. She was 22 or so and completely broke, and had to call her mother and father to send out the money for a flight home.
"I was in that position myself 25 years ago - fresh from Ireland and knew nobody - and I know how hard it can be. With the way the economy is in Ireland, there are a lot of young people leaving for New York again, just like in the '80s, and Failte 32 is all about helping them. You can come along to O'Caseys on 41st Street, where there were two floors given over to Failte 32. If you're from Mayo, we'll put you in touch with two people from Mayo, and whatever business you're in, we'll put you in touch with two people in the same line of business. We're putting a lot of work into it and it's flying."
For information on Paul Hurley's various bars and restaurants, visit www.pdohurleys.com. If you'd like to find out more about Failte 32, log on to www.failte32.com.
New York Blues
The current Dublin football club in New York was set up in the autumn of 1995 amid the euphoria of Dublin's All-Ireland success in bringing Sam Maguire back to the capital. The club was originally formed in 1934 before falling off the map in 1986.
This idea of forming a club sparked interest amongst a few New York based Dubliners to establish a team, so in the spring of 1996, the Dublin GFC was registered with the New York Board and began to compete in the Junior ranks.
In that first year we enjoyed a very good start as we were narrowly defeated by a point in the semi finals by the eventual winners Fermanagh. The following year the team was narrowly defeated by Mayo again by a single point in the semi-final.
The club was growing in strength and we stepped up a grade to compete in the Junior A ranks. Even though the NY Dubs continue to hold their own in the Junior A ranks we unfortunately lost a number of key players with reverse emigration as the roar of the Celtic Tiger was heard in NY.
It was felt within the club that a move to the Junior B ranks would allow us to rebuild a squad capable of making a telling impact at that level. This turned out to be probably the single most important decision ever made by the Management and Committee as it laid the foundation for our current success.
In the Junior B semi final of 2001 we beat our neighbours and keen rivals Meath by a solitary point in extra time to progress into our first Junior final. The singing and celebrations in the aftermath from the lads in Gaelic Park in the Bronx could be heard as far as the Statue of Liberty!
However, a farcical turn of events led to the game having to be replayed. During normal time the Dubs scored a late equalising point to send the game into extra time. Then all the trouble started. The time was 7.35pm and GAA insurance in NY only covers playing until 8pm. This may sound like a petty officialdom, but no player would risk playing without insurance and in addition, no-one wanted to schedule a replay either. So it was agreed to play ten minutes of extra time each way. The NY Dubs won the game, however Meath - who had no objected to the decision on the night - later lodged an official complaint that extra time was against the rules and that a replay should have been played and the result was declared null and void!
Despite a gallant performance in the replayed tie, the Dubs were defeated by that solitary point again! The victory that wasn't marked a low point for the team and as one of the players later caustically remarked "I did not see them objecting to extra-time when they were four points ahead!"
In 2005 Dublin finally made it to the final but were beaten by four points by a well organised and determined Offaly team.
In 2006, the NY Dubs won the John Jo McGovern Memorial Cup and other recent achievements has seen the club win the Utica 7-a-side tournament two years in a row in 2007 and 2008.
However, the Holy Grail did arrive in 2007 when the NY Dubs won the Junior B final with ten points to spare. For goal measure we also captured the John J McGovern Trophy in the knockout tournament.
The current Dublin club boasts players from all areas of Dublin along with players from other counties in Ireland.
The goal now is to win the Intermediate Championship in which we very nearly achieved reaching the final only to suffer defeat by a last minute goal scored by Roscommon.
The club holds its annual dinner dance in the world renowned Irish pub Rosie O'Grady's in midtown Manhattan.
Our ongoing efforts to build the Dublin GFC in New York are hugely aided through the kind support of our sponsors, The Padded Wagon, PD O'Hurleys Bars and Restaurants and The Coachmans Bar and Restaurant in the Bronx.
www.dublingfcny.com
SUPPORTED BY:
THE DUBLIN SOCIETY OF NEW YORK
EAMON'S BAR & GRILL
PJ MORAN'S NEW YORK
THE INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
BERNSTEIN & BERNSTEIN LLP
NAOMH FIONBARRA GAA CLUB
DJ REYNOLDS RESTAURANT & BAR
THE COLISEUM BAR & RESTAURANT
DUBLIN JUKEBOX
GERARD RYAN FINANCIAL SERVICES
ARDESIA WINE & FOOD BAR
REILLY REAL ESTATE, INC.
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