February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Seamus Dooley was elected as the last president of the New York GAA, with the title subsequently being changed to chairman. Dooley took the reigns of the Association at an ebb, with clubs struggling to find players in the face of reverse immigration.
That strain became too much for Stamford, Roscommon, Tyrone, and Fermanagh. Stamford, the 2003 Senior A Football champions, folded their Senior team and reemerged two grades lower in the Junior A division. Roscommon dropped their Senior B team, choosing to focus on their surviving Junior team, which moved up to the A division.
Erstwhile provincial rivals Tyrone and Fermanagh elected to pool their resources at the Junior A level, although Tyrone continue unaided in the Senior B division.
Two new teams have backed the trends to affiliate with the New York GAA. The New York Fire Department entered the Junior B competition, which will field 10 teams. In contrast to the NYFD’s entry, the admission of the Four Provinces club was anything but straightforward.
The club was described in some quarters as the Philadelphia/Donegal club, raising concerns of poaching North American County Board clubs. Four Masters officials dismissed those suggestions, noting that the Donegal side remains in the Philadelphia set up and claiming South Jersey as their home base.
Adding to the controversy was the team’s admission at the Senior B level, rather than at Junior B, which has been the normal route. In the end, the Senior Football division felt the newcomers would be too strong for the Junior Bs and were glad of the new additions.
No hurling is on the April schedule and the makeup of the Senior Hurling division remains cloudy. They have yet to present a schedule, raising concerns that New York hurlers will be ill-prepared for their Sunday, May 22, Ulster Championship showdown against Antrim.
The football division, however, have been finalized. The Senior A division is Mayo, Clare, Westmeath, Donegal, Kerry, Leitrim, and Cavan. In a new wrinkle, the SFA teams will compete in a knockout tournament before the Championship gets under way.
The Senior B title, and a place in the A division in ’06, will be contested by eight clubs: Cork, Sligo, Tyrone, Derry, Offaly, Four Provinces, Meath, and Monagan. Thirteen teams will have at it in a very competitive Junior A division. They are Rockland, Stamford, Roscommon, Donegal, Down, St. Raymonds, Brooklyn, Astoria, Fermanagh/Tyrone, Armagh, St. Barnabas, Kerry, and Rangers.
Ten clubs will toil in the Junior B group: NYFD, Monaghan, Cavan, Dublin, Offaly, St. Barnabas, Galway, Clare/Tipp, Rockland, and the Long Island Gaels.
Four matches are scheduled for opening day. The honor of starting it off goes to Junior Football A clubs Stamford and Rockland. Two SFA knockout matches follow, with promoted Mayo taking on their predecessors, Clare, before 2004 champs Kerry faces Leitrim. The last match of the afternoon pits Cork against Sligo in a Senior B Championship.
The new dressing room at Croke Park should be in place for the opener, while the protective canopy over the stands may also be in place.
Meanwhile the Randalls Island project lingers unresolved. A long-overdue meeting between the NYGAA and their lawyers with Randalls Island Gaelic Sports lawyers has been scheduled for this week, with a followup presentation to the NYGAA delegates scheduled for Thursday’s regular Association meeting.
RIGS are still in the process of negotiating their contract as they try to get the project off the ground. Thursday’s meeting promises to be an important one with the Randalls Island question sharing the stage with New York’s vote on opening Croke Park to soccer and rugby.
One delegate asked for an open discussion and a vote so that New York’s views could be represented accurately at Congress April 15-17 in Dublin, and was assured he would get it. A quick and decidedly unscientific poll showed delegates split down the middle, with passionate views on both sides. Chairman Dooley has encouraged all to attend.