New York footballers were always going to be up against it when they took on Galway last night but there could well be silverware heading to the Big Apple this year with the hurlers entering the Lory Meagher Cup for the first time.
The move was passed with 76.8 per cent of the vote at GAA Congress after a lively debate during which some queried whether the Exiles would be too strong for the fifth tier. There was significant support from overseas units while Offaly chairman Michael Duignan also spoke in favour.
New York, which has made tremendous strides in both football and hurling, particularly at underage level, have nine clubs fielding hurling teams at adult level and there are reportedly 2,500 juvenile players.
In November 2023, five Lory Meagher counties – Fermanagh, Cavan, Longford, Leitrim and Louth – reacted angrily to proposals to axe their senior teams. The thinking was that counties with less than five clubs should be withdrawn from the competition, with the focus (and funds) redirected to juvenile development. At the time, the five counties boasted 13 clubs in total.
New York beat Leitrim by 22 points in the final of the Connacht Shield in 2023 and last year they beat an admittedly understrength Mayo easily in the final proper. There is a group stage but New York will enter the competition in the semi-finals and will start as odds-on favourites.
Micko’s missing medal
Famously, the late Mick O’Dwyer’s Senior Championship debut as a player for Kerry saw the Kingdom fall to Waterford in the 1957 Munster Championship in what remains one of the greatest upsets in championship history – but it wasn’t the Waterville maestro’s first clash with the Déise.
As a minor in 1954, O’Dwyer scored 1-6 in a Munster semi-final replay against them but, for reasons unexplained, was strangely demoted to number 18 for the final against Cork, as he recalled in his autobiography Blessed and Obsessed, penned in conjunction with journalist Martin Breheny.
“I was down even further for the All-Ireland semi-final and wasn’t even an official substitute for the final against Dublin which Kerry lost by a point,” he wrote.
“For some reason which nobody ever explained, I never got my Munster medal. Has anybody got it?”
Micko-less Kerry were beaten in that All-Ireland minor final by a point by Dublin and went on to lose the senior decider on the same afternoon against Meath.
Within five years, O’Dwyer had Munster Junior and Senior Championship medals, a National League medal, three county senior medals and, most notably, his first Celtic cross.
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“Nice to go down as a pub quiz question for the future!”
Liam Gallagher of London was delighted that registering the first two-pointer in championship history means he will live forever in the annals.
Player churn an issue for lower-division counties
Speaking of Waterford footballers, it is well-documented that lower-division counties struggle with player retention but the situations in the Waterford and Tipperary football squads are stark this year.
According to reporter Stephen Barry, when the sides met on Saturday, there were only 11 survivors from the starting teams in the same fixture last season, including just two players who scored in that clash.
From Tipp’s 26-man matchday squad, 13 were championship rookies.
Both counties have enjoyed some famous days – the Déise beating Tipp last year for the first time in 35 years was one for them while Tipp were Munster champions as recently as 2020.
However, this year marks something of an unwanted anniversary – it is now 65 years since both counties won a match in the Munster SFC in the same season, with Waterford reaching the Munster final beating Cork and Tipperary knocking out Clare before falling to O’Dwyer’s Kerry.
One-sided scorelines in early championship need context
The new rules will be cited as the cause of some of the high scores on football’s opening weekend but it’s important to remember the context in terms of provincial championship scorelines.
Against – alliteration alert – a backdrop of backroom bedlam, Meath came out on top against Carlow, racking up an impressive 1-30, one point less than the 4-22 they bagged against Longford four years ago.
Meanwhile, Donegal hit 1-25 against Derry; they topped that when notching 2-25 in 2021 against Down. Cork struck four two-pointers as they put up 0-24 against Limerick, just two points more than the 3-13 in old money they put past the Treaty last year.
Roscommon, meanwhile, had 2-26 versus London; that was an improvement on the 5-21 the Exiles leaked at the same stage against Galway last year.
Number: 3
Countries in which there were Connacht SFC matches played between Saturday and Sunday as New York and London hosted Galway and Roscommon respectively and Sligo and Mayo meeting in Castlebar.
