Carnival atmosphere in New York as Galway make short work of exiles

THE Irish Voice, the emigrants’ newspaper in America, in its preview of Sunday’s Connacht Championship clash, said New York had to ‘mean business’ against Galway.

“This cannot be a feelgood weekend. It is championship football. You go out to win,” it said. In fairness, both sets of players went out to win it, and Galway, in particular, approached it with the respect and professionalism it deserved. But there is no escaping the feelgood factor at Gaelic Park.

It has a real carnival atmosphere: an annual celebration of Irishness, for and of Irish Americans, as well as more recent arrivals, fresh off the plane in search of a job, or a good time in the case of university students. The occasion couldn’t be further removed from ‘regular’ Connacht championship days at Pearse Stadium or McHale Park. It’s over 2,000 miles away, and a World apart.

Gaelic Park is in Bronx district of New York, the last stop on the red-line, a 45-minutes journey from Manhattan, where all the ‘action’ is, and famous landmarks including Empire State Building, Central Park, Time Square and the 9/11 Memorial, where the Twin Towers used to stand tall.

On Sunday, the odd maroon and white Tommy Varden and Supermac’s jerseys can be spotted at subway stations, friendly faces among the throngs of busy New York commuters.

Walking to the ground, young black men play basketball in outdoor courts at the nearby park; young boys play soccer in a caged field and opposite them, middle-aged men with racquets play what looks like a cross between tennis and handball up against gable walls. The hum of heavy traffic from a close-by highway, and in particular yellow taxis whizzing around, constantly beeping their horns, provides the background noise.

There are no street-sellers flogging ‘hats, scarves and headbands’ here!  Inside, Gaelic Park – which is boxed-in by the subway track, a row of trees and high rise apartments that overlook the pitch – a crowd of about 3,500 mingle and munch on hotdogs and cheeseburgers and guzzle bottled beers.

The sunshine adds to the occasion. Temperatures peak at 26 degrees as the Galway team arrives an hour before the game from their base in the Rockland’s in Sullivan County, about a 45-minutes bus journey away from the Bronx and almost two hours from Manhattan.

The party-vibe continues as a five-member band playing ‘Sean South from Garryowen’ leads both teams in a pre-match parade. Then they perform two national anthems, Amhrán an bhFhiann, sung with gusto by some Galway players, and Star-Spangled Banner, as the tricolor and American flags fly high over the scoreboard. The yanks certainly ‘do’ pageantry well.

The match itself isn’t much of a spectacle. To put it succinctly: New York started brightest and enjoyed the better of the opening 20 minutes without making it count on the scoreboard.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.