Iconic Times Square statue has strong Roscommon connections
Thousands of Norwegian fans performed the Viking Row on Times Square beside Fr Francis Duffy's statue following their victory over Senegal a the World Cup.
As World Cup fever grips North America, fans from across the globe have been gathering at Times Square, New York – where one of the famous plaza’s landmarks has a link to County Roscommon.
‘The Big Apple’ will host eight games in total across the tournament, including the final on July 19th.
Prominent in many of the videos circulating online, such as Norway’s fans performing a Viking row, is the iconic statue of Fr. Francis Patrick Duffy.
The best kind of mashup ever! Summer solstice yoga and Times Square annual event meets the great joy of the FIFA World Cup! Norwegians Viking row loudness versus the serenity of meditation and yoga 😂😂
— 🗽Dinomitetwins 🦖📍✨NYC ✨ creators & streamers (@DinomiteTwins) June 22, 2026
Mindness over Madness. 😂which do you prefer?
We are all in on World Cup… pic.twitter.com/vAWRpWzIrZ
During Roscommon’s trip to New York for the first round of the Connacht Senior Football Championship, many fans from Fr. Duffy’s ancestral home gathered around his statue.
Fr. Duffy was a Catholic priest born in Ontario, Canada in 1871 to Patrick and Mary Ready, his maternal line tracing its roots back to County Roscommon.
Following his service in France during World War I, Fr. Duffy returned to New York as the most decorated chaplain in the history of the United States.
In his early days Fr. Duffy was said to have startled his mother with his precociousness, and would later excel in his studies becoming an instructor at St. Francis Xavier College in Manhattan.
He was ordained in 1896 and eventually earned his Doctorate at Catholic University.
Two years later he volunteered as a chaplain to minister soldiers returning from the Spanish American War, where he contracted Typhoid and was moved back to Dunwoodie, New York to recover.
Back in New York, Fr. Duffy became a popular instructor at Dunwoodie, where his modern views often upset Church Hierarchy.
When he was transferred as a parish priest to Our Saviour Church in the Bronx, his progressive mindset was on full display when he suggested the establishment of a daycare centre so mothers could attend mass.
Alongside his duties as a parish priest, Fr. Duffy served as chaplain for “The Fighting 69th,” the largely Irish-American 69th Regiment of the NY National Guard.
The Fighting 69th were one of the first to mobilize across the Atlantic Ocean following during World War.
In his time stationed in France, Fr. Duffy showed fearless effort in his duties for he wounded and dying in No Man’s Land.
One testimonial recalled the Fr. Duffy broke into tears giving a young soldier his last rites whom he remembered baptizing as a baby.
In an unprecedented move for a chaplain, he was considered for he position of commanding officer due to his bravery and patriotism.
However he ensured that his regiment would be lead back to New York by fellow Irish-American Colonel “Wild Bill” Donovan.
Later Fr. Duffy would ghost write for the first Catholic to run for President of the United States, Al Smith.
As a testament to his regiment and his late friend and famous poet Joyce Kilmer, the priest wrote a book that was later titled Fr. Duffy’s story.
In that book he wrote, “I am a very Irish, very Catholic, very American person, if anybody challenges my convictions. But normally, and let alone, I am just plain human.” Following his passing on June 27th 1932, an estimated 25,000 people gathered for Fr Duffy’s funeral held at St. Parick’s Cathedral. Ten years after his death his statue was unveiled.
Now, nearly a century on, soccer fans still gather around his famous statue on Times Square.
