Big weekend for Mayo in the Big Apple

Big weekend for Mayo in the Big Apple


Mike Finnerty
in New York

THE trip of a lifetime for many Mayo GAA supporters came to an end early this morning (Tuesday) when most of them landed back on Irish soil from New York.
Approximately 500 fans are believed to have made the trip from Mayo to the US for last weekend’s opening game in the 2009 Connacht senior football championship.
Many of them attended a number of organised functions over the course of the weekend while a crowd of 3,000 people packed into Gaelic Park on Sunday to see Mayo beat a New York selection by fifteen points.
“It’s been a great weekend, a brilliant success in every way,” said Michael Morley, Chairman of the Mayo GAA club in New York.
“We were delighted to have been able to help organise a welcome dinner for the Mayo team and their supporters on Friday night and it was great to see so many familiar faces from home,” added the Knock native.
“This is always a very important weekend for us in New York because there are so many Mayo people out here who just can’t go home. When the Mayo football team and the supporters come over for a game, it means an awful lot to each and every one of us.”
A crowd of over 300 people attended the aforementioned dinner dance organised by the Mayo GAA club in New York at the Astoria Manor in Queens on Friday night. The club also hosted a golf outing on Saturday afternoon in Kissena that saw 68 competitors take part.
There was also a big turn-out at an ‘Over For The Match’ function on Saturday night that was organised by Louisburgh native, Ciaran Staunton, at his O’Neill’s Bar on Third Avenue.
The unofficial HQ for Mayo fans over the course of the weekend were the bar and restaurant owned by well-known businessman Eugene Rooney from Kiltimagh. The Mayo team attended a post-match reception there on Sunday evening while a fund-raiser in aid of the West of Ireland Alzheimer’s Foundation was held on the eve of the big match.
“At the end of the day there’s a connection in the GAA between people at home and abroad, especially in a championship match,” explained Mayo manager John O’Mahony. “We met a lot of people over the weekend that left Mayo fifty years ago, lived the dream, and I think it’s important that we link up with them because they’re part of it too.”

DON’T miss Mike Finnerty’s ‘New York Diary’ and pictures from Mayo’s trip to the Big Apple in next week’s issue.

www.mayonews.ie/gameon