From Tulsk to the Windy City

Enda Raftery loves the weekly phone calls with former Roscommon goalkeeper, Gay Sheerin. He’ll ring Enda Beirne too to see how Evan Flynn is shaping up or if Jayden Jennings can make an impression with this year’s minor football panel.

Roscommon, particularly his native Tulsk, is never far away from his mind.

As he chats about life in Chicago, he reveals that there are 60 miles per hour winds gusting around him. They don’t call it the “Windy City” for nothing.

Next weekend, like many Rossies around the world, he’ll travel to New York for Roscommon’s opening round game in this year’s Connacht SFC. Given that it has been ten years since the Primrose and Blue last took the Big Apple by storm, there will be plenty of catching up to do, including bumping into Willie Hegarty — his classmate from Kilmurry NS.

“There are 15 of us from Chicago — all Roscommon lads — going down to the game. It will be great to meet up with lads, including a good few Rossies in New York that we’ll hook up with,” he reveals.

Since 1989, Chicago has been his home. Married to a Cork woman, Enda and his wife Marcella have four children — Hugo, Isabelle, Emma and Enda Jnr. Plenty of banter then when the Rossies tackle the Rebels, although the children — while aware of what the GAA means to their father — have an interest in other sports, including baseball.

“When I was a young fella, we were mad for football in Tulsk. My father Seán was big into the GAA.

“We were from the St. Mary’s side of the parish. They amalgamated with Tulsk. My father Seán would have been very instrumental in that because he would have recognised that the future for St. Mary’s was very bleak at the time. Numbers were dwindling.

“St. Mary’s won a county junior final in 1959 and almost won a senior title a year later — beaten in the semi-final by Elphin.

“My father was one of very few from a junior club that played senior football for Roscommon at that time. He played in the late fifties and early sixties, but he missed out in ’62 through injury when Roscommon reached the All-Ireland final.

“That’s where we got our love for the game. I remember my father bringing me to Croke Park in the 1970s. He had a yearly ticket with Laurence Mannion. From that, we would have got a great experience,” recalled Enda.

After going to boarding school in St. Nathy’s, Ballaghaderreen, and college in Galway, Wolfe Tones GAA Club in Chicago came calling in 1989. Enda jumped at the chance to explore new avenues.

“Wolfe Tones would have been recruiting players at the time. I got involved, and played a lot of football. The GAA is very deep-rooted in by DNA.

“Consequently, it was very easy for us to follow Roscommon. When I came out first, the games would be broadcast every Sunday, but you’d have to go to a local pub to watch them. We’re huge into it, and with Roscommon being in Division One, they’re getting more exposure.” 

A winner of numerous Chicago titles and four North American senior titles, he played football with a host of former Roscommon players, including Eamon McManus Jnr, Emmet Durney and Tom Óg O’Brien. There has always been a close Roscommon association with the club. St. Brigid’s forward Ben O’Carroll spent the summer there a few years ago.

“John Conroy still very influential, alongside Mick Donoghue and Pat Gaynor. It was easy for me to come out to them because they told me about the opportunities here.

“If you’re part of a club out here, you’ll always get well looked after. We have a very strong club, probably the strongest in North America. We have the most senior titles won. The club is a big thing for work, for communications with people, and for social activities,” he highlighted.

However, as a result of a decline in emigration, numbers are becoming a problem. Nowadays, most young Irish people are attracted by the bright lights on the east or west coasts of the States, even though Chicago has so much going for it.

“Chicago is a great city, one of those hidden gems. It is a fantastic place, anyone who ever comes over here loves it. It’s clean, affordable, and has fresh-water lakes. I just wish it was doing better politically,” noted Enda.

A career in construction came calling 37 years ago. Enda started working in carpentry before setting up his own business, Raferty Construction, in the mid-nineties.

“The guy I was working with was doing carpentry. After so many years, you pick it up as you learn. Most of the homes out here are timber-framed.

“In the mid-nineties, I saw an opportunity to do this myself, so I started my own business in 1995. I graduated from doing carpentry contracts for developers and builders to doing my own building and development.

“I’d be into buying property, building new buildings and selling them. All the work we do is sub-contracted.

“Business is decent. We’re not setting the world alight. But Chicago isn’t going that well, it’s literally upside down,” he pointed out.

Now that his children are in college and high school, Enda is back involved with Wolfe Tones. He has returned to Ireland for every All-Ireland football final, expect the Covid one, since 1994.

He is happy to support Roscommon GAA whenever he can, and it will be a source of immense pride for him to see his native county back on New York soil for the first time in ten years.

“I think what Roscommon GAA and Club Rossie have done is fantastic — the work they’ve done in turning Hyde Park into one of the best pitches in the country. They’re all volunteers, and what they’ve done has been unbelievable for Roscommon GAA.

“I know they’re very involved in the new Centre of Excellence, so any time I can support them, I do. What they’ve done won’t fully sink in until they’re gone,” he concluded.