New York Seeks Connaught Glory

Irish Voice Sport

New York Seeks Connaught Glory

May 8, 2008

By Eugene Kyne

3 p.m.: Connaught Championship

First Round

New York vs. Leitrim

WITH the arrival of May comes the annual pilgrimage into the Connaught Championship for the New York football squad. This year is the continuation of the five year cycle with the Connaught teams, and Leitrim is back on the schedule. The rotation is Mayo, Galway, Roscommon, Sligo and this year’s entrant.

The last time New York played Leitrim it was 2003, and the game went into extra time before New York succumbed on a 0-14 to 0-12 scoreline. Survivors on the New York panel from that outing are James Mitchell, who actually was sent off in that game, Kenny O’Connor and Kevin Lilly, who chipped in with five points from play and frees. Leitrim players are Michael McGuinness, John McKeon and Declan Reynolds.

It was an outstanding contest, with chances from Gary Dowd and Fergal O’Neill screaming over the bar with the goal at their mercy. The what ifs are certainly very relevant for that contest. It was not to be, however, and the hopes continue for that one golden day in the sun for the Big Apple.

This year New York has been blessed with an exorbinent amount of challenge games against the average over the last decade. They hosted Lissycasey, the Clare champions, who they defeated narrowly.

Also in town were the Irish Army and Feale Rangers, the Kerry champions, on a weekend in March, Fingal Ravens from Dublin, who pushed the locals hard, and Boston two weeks ago, when New York went down meekly 1-05 to 0-6.

They were thoroughly outclassed on the March weekend when they had no answer against two strong outfits, and the other outings, while showing strong defensive performances, were off key at the offensive end.

It took the team a while to settle in each outing. The first halves were lost minutes while shooting woes did nothing to inspire over the remaining second stanzas.

Can they rise to the occasion this time around? Certainly there are talented players within the panel, and on a given day if the winds blow kindly as they did in ‘03 then a shock can occur.

Pa Ryan seems to be locked in at goalkeeper with his towering kick outs patented at this point. It is crucial that New York win 75% of these and not always in the air; they must win the breaks.

The full back line will certainly have New York all-stars Alan Foley and Aidan Power as two of the three if Power is fit to play. Rabbit, as he is known in GAA circles, is a whole-hearted player, while Foley is one of the best man markers to play for New York.

He also has the honor of lining out against his brother Michael for Leitrim. Michael has been a fixture at wing forward for three years, and the brothers will certainly cross paths at some point.

Joe Bell, Lonan Maguire, Steve Keating and possibly Dermot Keane will be contenders for the other corner. The half back line has a number of players vying for slots.

Keane can also be used out here, with James Mitchell, Sean Munnelly and Johnny Goldrick all options for inclusion. Munnelly might also be used as a retreating forward.

Midfield will be the O’Connors, Adrian and Kenny, from Glenbeigh-Glencar in Co. Kerry. Both have represented the Kingdom at underage level, with Bird the man who may wear the captain’s armband on Sunday. They are huge target men to aim for and will win their fair share. It is the breaks as mentioned earlier that are most important.

Up front there are a number of possibilities. Paddy Smyth is a scoring force and needs to be used in the full forward line, although he caused a lot of trouble out the field last November against Wicklow.

Dan Doona had a brilliant outing in that contest, but has been trying to reach those lofty heights ever since. Robbie Moran has the shooting boots on in the last two games and may be used on the 40 for periods.

Liam O’Donnell is a superb player and is playing better than any New Yorker at the moment, both in club games and county outings. Other options up front are CJ Molloy, Kevin Lilly, who was called into the panel last week, and Goldrick or Munnelly if not used at the back.

An ace in the hole are two men who came off the bench against Sligo IT and did a lot of hard work in a short time, Mark Dobbins (Down) and Mike Higgins (Four Provinces).

Dobbins will give 100% all the time and covers acres of ground. Higgins can be the point guard of the outfit if placed on the forty and repeatedly given the ball as an outlet.

If Doona remains hard on the square with Tomo Smyth and space is created, then Dobbins, Higgins, Munnelly and Goldrick will find them.

It does leave a lot of questions, and the game plan must have been practiced patiently for it to succeed.

A lineout on the following cards may be penciled in — Ryan, Foley, Power, Maguire, Keane, Mitchell, Goldrick, O’Connor’s, Munnelly, Higgins, O’Donnell, Dobbins, Doona, Smyth.

What of Leitrim? They were relegated to Division 4 of the National Football League recently, but they are not a bad team by any stretch of the imagination.

They defeated Down a month ago in Down with an impressive performance before going down to Limerick by a point, 1-9 to 0-11, in the last game that consigned them to the lower division..

They do have a settled look about them, with John McKeon entrenched at fullback and Barry Prior a staple at number six. The McGuinness brothers will likely find slots at the back, Michael, and up front Philip.

Add in Shane Foley who has been on the team for five years as a wing back or center back and is this year’s vice captain, and Gary McCloskey, who is their 6’3” captain and midfielder from Bornacoola and they will have no fears.

The scoring outbursts come from Emlyn Mulligan and Melvin Gaels. He notched 0-8 against Limerick and 1-4 against Down, and Darren Duignan from Gortletteragh, with Foley and David Maxwell constant starters at that end of the field.

A settled look then and a dangerous foe. They have been hurt by the league demotion and will look at the championship as a way to atone for it.

A tough opponent for New York, but if one was to look at all the Connaught teams and say which one presents the best chance to get a win, you would definitely start with Leitrim, and then look at Sligo and Roscommon next in line.

Is this the year? The game certainly brings excitement to the county for the weeks preceding the event, but a win may just be outside the realm of possibility for another 12 months.

The half time show this year will see the New York minor teams from 1976, and ‘77 that participated in the All-Ireland championship getting honored . A deserving thank you to a pioneering pair of squads.

The squads are: 1977, Pat Ryan (Celtics), Kevin O’Boyle (St. Joseph’s), Mike Gaffney (St. Joseph’s), PJ Hawlett (St. Joseph’s), Mike Keating (St. Joseph’s), Eamonn McTague (Celtics), John Rooney (St. Joseph’s), Pat Carroll (St. Joseph’s), Brian Quinn (Rangers), Tommy Huvane (Celtics), Mike Joyce (St. Joseph’s), Gary Allen (Celtics), PJ Hawkins (St. Joseph’s), Owen Lynch (Celtics), Mike Ryan (St. Joseph’s), Brian McGarvey (Rangers), Bill Barrett (Suffolk), Scott Woogans (St. Joseph’s), Pat Doran (Rangers), Tim O’Connor (Rangers), Brian Nugent (St. Joseph’s).

1976, Pat Ryan, Gary Allen, Mike Gaffney, Michael Keating, John Rooney, Mike Joyce, Owen Lynch, Timmy O’Connor, Brian McGarvey, David Hannon, Chris Boyle, Kevin McCormack, Mike Howlett, Mike Sullivan, Pat Sullivan, Danny Deneher, James Coleman, Joe Mitchell, James Nicholson, Jerry Mahoney.

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