Letter from america this is new york and cavan are in town

Paul Fitzpatrick
in New York

 

“The tourism people at home have a slogan – it says 'This is Cavan',” said Connie O'Reilly, as the the crowd of footballers and followers in his bar, O'Reilly's on West 31st St, Manhattan, fell into a hushed silence.

“Well, that's not strictly accurate. We are Cavan! And it means so much having you guys over here.”

Cue a hearty round of applause from the packed room. In case you were in doubt, this is New York and Cavan are in town; that's a hell of a big deal.

That much was made clear by the rousing welcome the team received when they arrived at Frank Golden Park in Queens, the home of Shannon Gaels, a thriving club founded in 2002 by Mullahoran man Mike Reilly, who adopted the Dreadnoughts' distinctive saffron and blue colours.

The team received a police escort from JFK airport to the Gaels' home grounds, with our middle-aged African-American bus driver (“This is Randy, lads, he's a great driver and he's a Mullahoran man!” announced Connie to general hilarity, much of it emanating from Randy himself) weaving across lanes and sounding his horn in typical New York fashion.

Once there, The Celt caught up with Kingscourt native Catherine Curtis and Shannon Gaels stalwart Breffni Smith from Knockbride, along with Bernie O'Hanlon, a Ballinagh native who has been in the Big Apple since 1964 yet never misses a big Cavan match at home.

The club are about to embark on a $5 million project, with significant support from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the GAA, to re-develop their grounds, which also go under the name 'The Field of Dreams'.

“Queens is the most diverse borough in the world – in the world – and it's so important that the GAA has a base and an identity here,” stated President Aogán Ó Fearghail in a short address to the crowd of young footballers, Irish dancers, musicians, parents and supporters.

After that, it was off to the city for lunch in the bar owned by O'Reilly – a benefactor and organiser of the trip who is a Breffni diehard – before the team made their way upstate to their base close to Rockland County GAA grounds.

There they will endure five tough days of training, also finding time to fit in two matches against the locals in Gaelic Park, the first of which throws in tonight at 1am Irish time.

The team are staying in the Crowne Plaza in Suffern.

“Sufferin' is right,” joked midfielder Tomás 'Mossy' Corr as they loaded their coach for the 90-minute trip from the city centre.

Aside from their hectic schedule of training, the team will have a meet and greet with local supporters in Rory Dolan's eponymous bar in the Bronx tomorrow – fittingly, the function takes place in 'the Killeshandra Room' – while also squeezing in a motivational talk from two-time New York Giants Superbowl winner David Diehl.

As we write, in a Starbucks on 7th Avenue in midtown Manhattan, it's 8.30am and the city has come alive. At the next table, a model is meeting with her agent and discussions are growing heated. Across the way, a hipster is tapping away on an ancient looking laptop, while two schoolkids are giggling their way through their cappuccinos.

The Celt is billeted just across the road in the pristene Affinia along with some supporters and county board officials and other media. Almost everywhere we have been in the few hours since we touched down – beginning with an announcement from the cockpit on the Aer Lingus flight wishing the Cavan team good luck – there has been a buzz about the team being here.

The GAA is booming in the Big Apple and having a senior inter-county side land to train and prepare and play has generated significant attention, with TV cameras at the Field of Dreams yesterday to document their arrival.

And all the American supporters want to know is how the team are really going, and if they can beat Monaghan on May 24 at Kingspan Breffni Park. And we've spoken to lots of them, including Mullahoran man Darren O'Reilly and Butlersbridge native Senan Flanagan (brother of Cavan player Feargal), who we bumped into separately on the street.

This is the most tantalising time of the season for any footballer because anything and everything is still possible, we tell them. The atmosphere could not be better.

Here they are in New York, Division 2 status secure, no major injury worries, the sun peeping out from behind the clouds and the summer stretched out before them.

The word is that there will be a little beer spilled but a lot more sweat this week. “It's a reward for the players in a sense but not in another – they're not leaving work behind them, they're going out to work,” manager Terry Hyland stated last week.

Working, learning. The holidays may be here, but every day's a school day, even in the city that never sleeps.

We will keep you posted...

For now here's a video of the police escort from JFK.