Looking Back – NYGAA 2007

Irish Voice Sport

Looking Back – NYGAA 2007

December 13, 2007

By Eugene Kyne

ANOTHER year over and deeper in depth! It’s that time again when we reflect, surmise, weep, laugh, cheer but never lament the season gone by in the New York GAA.

It was a busy year at the Mecca, with county games for the ladies and men’s football teams. Underage battles against visitors from afar, and county finals, cup finals and league games all made it a fantastic year for the spectator at the new and improved Gaelic Park.

While no trophies will be handed out for the following awards, we certainly will not stop the process as we recognize the people and players that made the past year so exciting for your local reporter from the Irish Voice. Here’s how we saw it:

Team of the Year: With Four Provinces breathing new life into the New York championship and Down staying in Senior B for the briefest of periods, senior football threw a couple of bona fide candidates into the mix.

Kerry took a year off at senior level and fielded a dominating side at Junior A. Dublin were a thrilling vision at Junior B. All legit possibilities.

However, after a wait of 43 years for a senior title and 62 years for a senior hurling title the winner is the Offaly hurlers. They lost a number of players to Ireland but replaced them with brilliant pickups of Shane Sweeney, Pat Hartley, Ritchie Gaule and Phil Wickham to accompany Matt Mitchell, Hammer and Gary Hill.

They finally crossed the bridge to the Promised Land. With point scoring of record proportions they were a thrill a minute this past year.

Score of the Year: So many to choose from — Sweeney, James McGovern, Bonnie Kennedy, Shane Lennon, Murtagh, Sean Collins and Tomo, to name just a few, had contenders for this award.

Honorable mention goes to Deon Gallagher (Tyrone) when he was playing for Leitrim. He had a goal of brilliance against Derry when the game was extremely close.

The winner, however, is Dan Doona (New York). With Wicklow just after extending their lead in the first half against New York in the Owen Tracey Cup Final, New York went down the field and won a sideline under the railroad on the 20 meter line.

The former underage star Doona walked over from the full forward berth, took the ball and calmly slotted it between the uprights for a tremendous score to bring New York back into the game.

Save of the Year: Goalies can provide some major highlight reels for the winter months, and this past year Chris Greene, Brian McGonigle, Dermot Fleming and Shane Clifford all had moments when you scratched the head and said, how in the hell did he do that?

One kid, however, was a human vacuum cleaner when it came to cleaning up between the posts. He was pushed by Steve Carty, who was a revelation for Tipp, but Michael Smyth of Kinvara in Galway saved the maroon and white in New York with breathtaking skill and nerves of steel as he stood strong in front of all comers.

His explosive bursts off the line and flying through the air, it all made for intense and impressive moments. Too many saves to single one, but a save from Bonnie in a game that decided who went in to the semis and who went home stands out.

Game of the Year: With close to 200 games at Gaelic Park this year and many more in places as varied as Rockland, Ireland, East Durham and Paddy’s Field, there was again plenty to whet the appetite for the punter.

The New York vs. St. James (Galway) contest in Mervue was a humdinger, with the Mervue/Renmore squad the reigning minor titlists in Galway for 2006 and ‘07. The New York squad was in rare form, however, with Denis Kilkenny, Shane Carthy, C.J. Molloy and Thomas Enright giving outstanding displays in a game that finished a draw.

The ladies semifinals between Mayo and Kerry/Donegal are another pair that jump to mind as well. The battle Cavan gave Four Provinces comes to mind, while another semi, Kerry vs. Roscommon, was a nerve-wracking encount-er.

Eamonn Deane’s Minor Board also gave us Warwickshire against New York in two under-17 battles that were thrilling games.

At the top of the heap was a hurling encounter back in July between the reigning county champions New Jersey/ Kilkenny and an Offaly side that was making a statement. When the dust settled, after the teams were tied 3-4 to 1-10 at the half with a hoist of lead changes in the second half, Offaly prevailed by the slimmest of margins 1-22 to 5-10, with NJ/K having nine different scorers, and Pat Hartley (0-8) and Shane Sweeney (1-9) doing the brunt of the Faithful scoring. A thriller at the Mecca.

Coach of the Year: They arrived into New York with a resume that included four North American titles, and seven in a row and four in a row in Philly. They had a baptism of fire in 2006 when they reached the semis.

Seamus Sweeney took Four Provinces to the Promised Land in 2007 with a New York Senior A title for the side from the City of Brotherly Love. Mentions go to Brendan Henchy with Kerry and last year’s winner Fergus Daly with Down.

Ref of the Year: The big guns got the big games and rightfully so. In the wings are a few up and coming men in the middle, Brendan Moran and Paddy Smyth to name a couple.

One man that has done nothing but improve with each outing, and is constantly asking questions on the rules and ways to improve his game is this year’s winner, Brian Quinn of the FDNY. A whole-hearted referee with the well being of the players on his mind, good things are ahead for the new kid on the block with the whistle.

Don’t you remember us? We are undefeated!: From the highlights of the Ulster final came the big letdown of 2007 for the New York hurlers. With the club championship again serving up some outstanding games, the county squad was practically forgotten completely.

Their only outing was a challenge against Cappawhite, a visiting club side from Tipperary. They won that game easily and as a result are the only team in New York without a defeat this year.

Seriously, a North America Cup is the way to go here. Even GAA President Nicky Brennan is calling for it, with Boston also fully in favor. It needs to happen sooner rather than later with a return to Ulster as the next step.

With Cavan, Tyrone, Donegal, etc. joining Derry, Down and Antrim there is surely a place at the table for the Big Apple. The new chairman needs to make this a priority.

All the cousins are coming over now! From years when no one traveled to a new age when they are all arriving. The weak dollar definitely helps, but the New York GAA is the real winner along with Woodbury Commons. We had Sligo IT, the Underdogs, Wicklow and the all-stars. Next year Lissycasey in January, Feale Rangers and the Army in March.

We’ll have Leitrim in May for the Connaught, with the Railway Cups and Football all-stars possibilities. It will be a fun-filled year.

The future looks real bright: Eamonn Deane and Nollaig Cleary are the chairpersons of the Minor and Ladies Boards. Their associations have gone from strength to strength in the past number of years under their watchful eyes.

This year the ladies had teams at underage level in Ireland for Cuman Peil in Leitrim and Sligo. They reached their division final. They took home a flood of honors from the CYC in Chicago, and the crescendo was the battle against the Underdogs that went down to the wire with a young American girl, Kelly McArdle, getting a brilliant goal for the home side.

The Minor Board under Deane had under-14s in Ireland for Peil Na Nog, under-18s at a football camp in Galway and playing five games against Galway and Donegal opposition. There was full participation in the CYC games, under-17 games against Warwickshire at Gaelic Park, and of course Cul camps at the Park for both girls and boys in July.

When New York were making their comeback against Wicklow that came so close, Thomas McGovern, Andrew Donoghue and Mike Creegan, who all graduated the Minor Board, were all helping out on the field with Doona Mitchell, Power and Bird.

Of course the ladies and minors also had loads of league games as well. Any Saturday when you’re not busy there’s loads to see.

Duddy and Moore will handle the fisticuffs: A couple of games this year ended with unsavory moments. The clubs involved know who they are. The Wicklow and Derry natives are so much better at it and a lot more fun to look at. Let’s leave it to them.

Champions all from the glory days: While Sligo easily defeated New York in the Connaught Championship this year, none of the 30 odd players that day were the best footballers on the field.

That honor goes to the New York League winners from 1967 who were honored at half time. Peter Nolan, Peter Maguire, Jim Foley, Paddy Cummins, Sonny Kenna, Seamus Nugent, Kenny and Rory Finn and Tommy Furlong are just some of the men from the most glorious days of the New York GAA, the 1960s. There was12,000 in the crowd, trips to Aussie, Egypt, Ireland and Frisco. The stories from these men will stay with me, as will the friendships.

Kerry again!: From the semifinal in 1992, again in 1996, 2000, and then they left us alone for a while. They don’t go far, and the junior title that the Kingdom annexed this year had to be against someone. You can change the headlines and edit the tape but the result is the same!

A fantastic year all around, with trills, spills, cuts, bruises, ecstasy and agony. It makes the GAA world go round.

It will soon be January and time to get set to do it all again.

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