Offaly 2-25 New York 1-12
New York’s participation in the Tailteann Cup ended as generally expected with a comprehensive win for Offaly, in O’Connor Park, Tullamore. The reality was that the Faithful footballers had a very successful season, winning promotion from Division 3 to Division 2, with the defeat to Meath in the Leinster championship the only blemish to their football season.
In addition, Offaly have blended a coterie of their All-Ireland under-20 squad into the team. The pitting of the respective managers, namely Ronan McGinley for New York and Mickey Harte, joint manager of Offaly, invoked images of the student/master relationship from decades ago. Harte was McGinley’s teacher at St. Kieran’s in the Errigal Kieran’s parish, in County Tyrone. The harsh reality for the former pupil was that his former teacher was still very much the boss in Tullamore on Saturday.
Meanwhile there were a few talking points pursuant to the game: New York’s decision to play against the wind, Dylan Hyland’s scoring fest of 1-12,Bobby O’Regan’s goal as a candidate for goal of the season and, and New York’s late scoring spree of 1-6 on the trot. However, New York’s decision to play against the wind was surprising. The prevailing wisdom used to be, take the wind, because it might not last.
Meanwhile in the early exchanges New York seemed to have settled in well, boosted by a few fine fetches in the middle by Kieran Murphy and Eoghan McElligott. At the other end Dylan Hyland, Man of the Match, got the opening score before a fine effort from Murphy rebounded off the post. Murphy’s next shot was on target, resulting from a turnover and a timely assist from Gavan O’Brien. By the 10th minute New York courtesy of a Frank O’Reilly free New York had jumped ahead. Despite the early lead the signs were becoming more ominous as Offaly began to dominate the possession stakes, but missing the target. That soon changed as Hyland lofted a two-pointer. Cathal Flynn was operating very effectively on the fourth, setting the stage for his colleagues.
The rout was now in full swing as Offaly were camped in New York territory. Killian Bourke(2), Hyland and Keith O’Neill struck singletons before Jordan Hayes landed a spectacular two-pointer. Offaly were also hunting for a major strike, but keeper Grace denied them twice. The attacks were relentless and the points kept flowing as well as the tally of wides. Hyland finished the point scoring spree with a two pointer. However, he wasn’t finished scoring as his last attempt for a point was fortuitous. He cut inside, attempted a fisted pass, which fell short and back into his path. He duly slithered the ball into the net, to leave the score at the break, 1-14 to 0-2. Hyland accounted for 1-7 and such was Offaly’s dominance that they could also afford the luxury of 10 wides.
It seemed on the changeover that Offaly were continuing to dominate as Keith O’Neill hit over his second point as the deficit continued to grow. Offaly were off target before Keith O’Neill hit over and Shane Tierney, fresh off the bench, announced his arrival with a point. Finally the Big Apple’s drought ended after 35 minutes without a score. A foul on Kieran Murphy set the scene for a pointed free from Bobby O’Regan. The corner forward won a free and duly pointed the resultant free. That brace of points did little to stem the Offaly onslaught, and the situation looked to be going from bad to worse for the New Yorkers. Hyland, besides been a prolific scorer, showed his defensive diligence by forcing a turnover enabling Hayes to hit another point. Ruairi McNamee came off the bench and within three minutes he added 1-2 to the score sheet, ballooning the deficit to twenty points. Joe Hagan, a former Longford player, entered the fray and quickly shot over a point. So the stats for the third quarter showed the Faithful County had outscored the Yanks by 1-6 to 0-3.
Then for the last quarter New York hit a purple patch, they would hit 1-6 without replay. The scoring spree began with a two-pointer free from Frank O’Reilly after Hagan was fouled. Then came the best score of the game, a goal from O’Regan. The full forward gained possession on the twenty meter line, turned quickly and shot in an exquisite vignette of skill and the ball was in the roof of the net before keeper Dunican realized where it was. This majestic major strike infused badly needed energy and firepower to New York’s front lines as Offaly appeared to wilt. Then it looked as if New York were on track for another major strike, but Killian Butler’s shot was saved by Dunican.
New York were now turning the tables on their opponents as O’Regan and Robinson landed points before Mike Argue looked to have scored a two-pointer, but Dunican got a finger to it, thus reducing it to a single. Robinson was now showing his best form as he shot over from an acute angle. New York seemed destined to breach Offaly’s defense twice as the game wore down. First Robinson miscued his shot and secondly Eoghan McElligott saw a powerful shot rebound off the crossbar. Finally it was left to Offaly’s scorer in chief, Hyland to end New York’s late spree. And he finished with a crescendo, adding five more points to a very impressive tally. He added three singles and a two-pointer as the hooter sounded. Overall Offaly were nearly always in charge apart from a late brief New York rally that helped sanitize the scoreboard a bit and saved New York’s performance from being labelled a complete demolition. Sure they gave it their best shot, but Offaly’s relentless attacking kept New York very much on the defensive. From a positive perspective New York have a few top-class forwards, but for much of the game they were denied possession as kickouts failed to reach their intended targets. Granted the magnitude of this defeat is unpleasant, but the simple reality is that New York would and have been quite competitive against division four or three teams.
Offaly: Paddy Dunican, Lee Pearson, David Dempsey, Daire McDaid, Aidan Bracken, John Furlong, Cormac Egan(0-1), Jack McEvoy, Jordan Hayes(0-4), Kyle Higgins(0-1), Cathal Flynn, Cillian Bourke(0-2)), Keith O’Neill(0-2), Jack Bryant, Dylan Hyland(1-12). Subs. Shane Tierney(0-1)for Jack Bryant, Ruairi McNamee(1-2)for Cillian Bourke, Cormac Egan for Rory Egan, Aaron Leavy for Kyle Higgins, Robbie Gallagher for Keith O’Neill.
New York: Joey Grace, Cian O’Dea, Sean Wilson, Sean Bolger, Bill Maher, Rob Wharton, Morgan Garry, Kieran Murphy(o-1), Gavin O’Brien, Shane Brosnan(capt), Eoghan McElligott, Jack McKenna, Frank O’Reilly(0-3), Bobby O’Regan(1-4),Jack Robinson(0-2). Subs Tadgh O’Riordan for Sean Wilson, Tiernan Mathers for Morgan Garry, Michael Argue for Jack McKenna, Joe Hagan for Bill Maher, Killian Butler for Gavin O’Brien, Man of Match Dylan Hyland, Referee David Murnane.
New York looks to junior success
Given that New York’s senior team has ben consigned to the sidelines until next year, attention should now turn to New York’s junior team. Traditionally junior teams were regarded as the counties’ second team or string. However, the junior championship was reconstituted in 2022 to explicitly comprise mostly overseas teams. Kilkenny was included in the new format because the Cats do not field a county senior football team. Overall the competition involves about 10 teams, representing about a half dozen English teams, plus London, New York and a team representing the rest of the U.S.
So far New York have been remarkably successful in this competition. Though they lost to Kilkenny in 2022 All-Ireland junior final, they would get revenge in 2023 topping Kilkenny by 0-13 to 1-9. New York got the better of London in last year’s final on a score of 0-13 to 0-12. On their way to the final, they beat Warwickshire by 0-11 to 0-8, with Shay McElligott, Brian Coughlan, Thomas Shalvey, Danny Corridan and Gearoid Kennedy listed as scorers. The successful lineout in the final was: Ryan Corrigan, Peter Cronin, Paidi Mathers, Shane Doheny, Aaron Traynor, Dylan Curran, Colum Shalvey(0-1),Ian Kavanagh, Gearoid Kennedy(0-2), Aidan Lawler, Danny Corridan, Thomas Shalvey(0-2), Emmett Loughran(0-1),Brian Coughlan(0-1), Shay McElligott(0-6). Other players involved in the championship were Lorcan Kennedy, Ciaran O’Connor, James Donovan, Christian Madigan, Ryan Hilliard, Kaelan Walsh, Conor Mathers and Par Guerin. This year New York meet the USGAA team which is comprised of players from San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia in the All-Ireland semifinal at Gaelic Park, at 2pm, this Saturday. There’s a remarkable degree of consistency in this New York squad as 12 of these players are in pursuit of their third All-Ireland, plus 18 of the squad were involved from last year’s competition. It’s difficult to gauge the strength of the opponents, but they should be a formidable outfit, judging from last year. London got by with a point to spare with USGAA’s chief scorer’s listed as Shane Bradley, Eoin Gormley, Aaron Corr and Declan Kelly. In charge of the New York squad is manager Mick Healy and the backroom crew consists of Johnny McGeeney, Gareth Bailie, Kevin Moriarity and Michael Caterson. Players and management have shown a great commitment as they have been training three times a week for the last three months. So come out to support these young players and if they get by on Saturday, they will be heading to Ireland and a chance of the three in a row.
