Two very different trips to New York

I had two very different experiences representing Roscommon in New York.

The first was in 2006. Having made my championship debut against London in 2005, this was my first full year of starting on the team.

It was John Maughan’s first year in charge. He had made sweeping changes from the outset, effectively retiring the core group of leaders which the team had been built around for the previous ten years.

The trips to New York could be used as a barometer of the strength of the Irish economy at the time. 2006 was peak-Celtic Tiger era, and you could see it in the numbers who travelled.

We stayed in a plush hotel in uptown Manhattan. It was a surreal experience. Trips to New York generally are, but this was even more so. Whatever way they organised the group bookings, it seemed like all of Roscommon was staying in hotels in and around the same street.

There were primrose and blue jerseys everywhere. We were wined and dined around the town. So many expats over there were only delighted to welcome us and spoil us. Jimmy Naughton from Knockcroghery was involved. We ate in Terry Connaughton’s Steakhouse in Yonkers. Rosie O’Grady’s pub is another that springs to mind. If you travelled to New York before for a game, you’ll know it.

It was impossible not to get caught up in the carnival atmosphere. We did try training a couple of days before the game. I remember us getting about halfway through the warm-up before a few of New York’s mounted police arrived to inform us that Central Park was not indeed a suitable location for our session.

The match on the Sunday in Gaelic Park was much tighter than we had hoped for or expected. Given that we only got out of Ruislip the previous year with a win by the skin of our teeth, we should have been more aware of the pitfalls of the championship game abroad.

In the end we won by 1-14 to 0-10, but for a stage in the second half it was very tight, right up until Ger Heneghan scored a penalty to give us a bit of breathing space in the closing minutes. For those trying to remember the personnel involved around that time, here’s our starting line-up: Darren Lennon; Paddy O'Connor, David Casey, Seanie McDermott; Stuart Daly, John Nolan, Richie Dooner; Seamus O'Neill, Brian Mullin; Stephen Lohan, Ger Heneghan, Michael Finneran; Enda Kenny, Gerry Lohan, Seanie Fahy.

There was a gala dinner that night, highlighted by a terrific speech by the late, great Dermot Earley. All in all, I’d say the county board did well on the fundraising side of things with that trip. They needed to. The next morning, we got on a bus and headed for the Catskill Mountains in the southeast of New York state for a week-long training camp.

It was a train-like-a-dog twice a day kind of camp. I still vividly remember the very first session we did. Lads weren’t long regretting having the few drinks the night before at the gala dinner. There were lads getting sick left, right and centre. That set the tone for the week.

I loved it. Training camps are like manna from heaven for GAA players. It’s a chance to live like a professional athlete. Nothing to do but train, eat, drink and sleep. There was great craic to be had too in the downtime.

Maughan let us off the leash on the final night. We went to a college town, Albany, and had a rake of beers together to round off the trip.

I remember Maughan’s best speech of the entire trip came at about 3 a.m. on the bus back to our accommodation from Albany, along the lines of, “If they mess with him, they mess with all of us!” Pity half the lads sitting in front of him were asleep.

He was referring to the NYPD after they had arrested one of our players. I’m sure the statute of limitations is up at this stage as regards that and some other stories I could share from the nights out on that trip, but some things are best left out of print.

2011 TRIP

Fast-forward five years to 2011 and we were in a much different space as a team heading out to New York again. We had been Connacht champions in 2010, and lost to eventual All-Ireland champions Cork at the quarter-final stage. We had genuine aspirations to go at least a step further.

Fergal O’Donnell was in charge this time. Our current manager, Mark Dowd, was a coach under Fergie. It was in many ways the polar opposite of the 2006 trip.

The Celtic Tiger had gone bust, but I’d say there was still a large number of travelling Rossies. I don’t have as clear a memory of that though as we were kept well away from the hustle and bustle of any fundraising, or meet and greets with supporters.

Instead of staying in Manhattan, this time we were in a grand quiet hotel in a place called Tarrytown — a village about 25 miles north of New York City. We didn’t try training in Central Park this time. We trained in Rockland GAA in upstate New York.

The messaging and atmosphere around the whole trip couldn’t have been more of a contrast with 2006. This time we were here just to get the job done, plain and simple. There’d be one night out, after the match. There’d be no training camp.

It went off without a hitch. Gaelic Park had a new, state of the art astro surface at this stage. The old, dry, sandy pitch had probably been an advantage to them previously. On the fast pitch, we played well and won easily.

The starting team that day were: Geoff Claffey; Seanie McDermott, Peter Domican (captain), Niall Carty; Donal Ward, David Keenan, Ian Kilbride; Michael Finneran, Karol Mannion; Conor Devaney, Kevin Higgins, Cathal Cregg; Senan O’Grady, Senan Kilbride, Donie Shine.

My only strong recollection of the night out that followed was that Bin Laden was killed. A bunch of our lads were joining others on the streets of New York shouting, ‘We got him, we got him’. It was the night Barack Obama announced to the world, ‘We got him’. They’d killed Bin Laden and we were stuck in the middle of the celebrations.

Who knows, maybe Donald Trump will have some major announcement when our lads are over there this time.

I’ve seen an advertisement online for a supporters’ event in New York in advance of the game and it’s sold out. There’s some great work being done on the ground out there I’d say along with a big push by Club Rossie. It has to be done, and is part and parcel of these trips.

The management of the team within that environment can be difficult. I’d imagine Dowdy will be very much in the Fergie O’Donnell way of thinking and that the lads will be focussed solely on getting the job done.

I hope they do that and then enjoy their downtime too. There’ll be hundreds if not thousands of family members and supporters out there and there’ll be a great carnival atmosphere in Gaelic Park on the day.

A day to be enjoyed, but, most importantly, a day to get the job done with a minimum of fuss.