It is August 2014 and Kerry have just beaten Mayo in the All Ireland Minor Football Semi-final en-route to their first minor title in 20 years.
Kerry, boasting future a hatful of senior stalwarts such as Shane Ryan, Briain Ó Beaglaíoch, Micheál Burns and Killian Spillane, ran out comfortable four-point winners in a 1-14 to 2-07 victory over a Mayo side boasting the likes of Matthew Ruane and Brian Reape.
It is the story of three lesser-known players that piques interest ahead of the opening weekend of the championship, however.
Jack Reilly (Mayo) and Liam Kearney and Rob Wharton (both Kerry) all came off the bench during that semi-final ten years ago, with Kearney going on to captain Kerry to All Ireland glory in their victory over Donegal in the final a month later.
Fast forward ten years and all three are now part of the New York panel set to take on Mayo in the opening round of the Connacht Football Championship at Gaelic Park on April 7.
'A big Irish head'
Once rivals, the trio are now close friends thanks, in part, to a moment of serendipity between Wharton and Reilly, who are both US citizens and emigrated to the US at roughly the same time.
Wharton, fresh off the boat, applied for a job at the construction firm that Reilly worked for in early 2022.
Reilly happened to walk by during Wharton’s interview and noticed a “big Irish head” and decided to investigate further. Upon examining Wharton’s CV, Reilly noted that the Kerry man had played in the 2014 All Ireland-winning minor team and made the connection that he must have played against Mayo in that fateful semi-final.
The two were good friends by the time Kearney emigrated to the States later in the year.
Kearney, who lined out for the Kerry seniors on several occasions during the 2020 league campaign, stepped away from the panel several months after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We came back after Covid after having a lot of time away from training and I realised that the amount of time and commitment I was putting towards being a part of the Kerry squad was not worth what I was getting out of in terms of playing competitive football,” Kearney said.
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Kearney joined the Kerry Gaelic Football Club in New York after moving to the Big Apple last year but said there is a small sense of disappointment not to be involvement with Spa, his home club in Killarney.
Wharton and Reilly shared similar sentiments about Renard and Charlestown Sarsfields respectively, but all three have moved to the States in search of fresh challenges and have now found an adopted home with New York GAA.
Intercounty rivals turned intercounty teammates, their story is symbolic of the diversity of Gaelic football in New York, with footballers coming from all over Ireland and the US. Training sessions in the Bronx feature a collection of club and county colours from back home, highlighting the widespread diversity of the New York panel.
For the former minor trio, however, the camaraderie of intercounty football in the Big Apple does not greatly differ from the football they played at home.
Wharton admitted that he was nervous before joining the panel in 2023 but said he was instantly welcomed by the group.
“I can’t speak highly enough of the group,” Wharton said.
“It was like getting 30 friends straight off the bat. I had only been in New York for two weeks when I first went up training and I felt at home straight away.”
It is that camaraderie that drives Kearney, Wharton, and Reilly (and the rest of the New York panel) to make the thrice-weekly trek to the Bronx for training sessions in rain, hail, or snow – and there has been plenty of each in New York this past winter.
All three live in Queens and work in Manhattan, making the arduous journey up to Gaelic Park in the heart of the Bronx after work on Tuesday and Thursday evenings aboard the seemingly never-ending 1 Subway train and sourcing lifts from Queens to make training early on Sunday morning.
All New York players are also tasked with doing gym work in their own time.
Kearney said he believes the rigorous training program helps to “keep men on the straight and narrow” in a city with plenty of distractions.
The jump
Kearney, who captained Kerry to Minor All Ireland glory ten years ago, only emigrated last April and was not part of the New York panel that made history by beating Leitrim 2-0 on penalties, their first-ever win in the Connacht Championship since entering the competition in 1999. Wharton and Reilly were, however.
Reilly, who came on as a substitute on that emotional night and kicked a point during extra time, took part in the shootout and was captured jumping for joy when Leitrim’s Evan Sweeney fired wide at a crucial stage.
8 April 2023; Jack Reilly of New York, centre, celebrates after Leitrim miss a penalty during the Connacht GAA Football Senior Championship quarter-final match between New York and Leitrim at Gaelic Park in New York, USA. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
“The only reason I jumped up was because I was up next for a penalty and that took the pressure off me,” Reilly said of the memorable photo. “I still fucking missed,” he added, laughing at the memory.
“I’d say there’s a serious dent in the crossbar from where I hit it.
“Jeez, they were the worst penalties of all time.”
All three players agree that last year’s famous victory has lifted an enormous weight off the shoulders of New York’s players ahead of their clash with Mayo.
Wharton added that there was far more pressure on the group last year because they had targeted the meeting with Leitrim as a huge opportunity to take their first-ever scalp.
“As much as people said there was no pressure on us, there was, because New York had never won a game,” Wharton said.
“We actually expected that we were going to beat Leitrim.
“Nobody will give us a chance against Mayo. They’re a Division 1 team, playing league games week in, week out. We’re not playing anything except for in-house games.”
All three believe that they have nothing to lose in the upcoming Championship opener but hope to give Mayo a scare or two during their trip to Gaelic Park, which boasts an astroturfed playing surface with a variety of multicoloured lines due to the large volume of different sports played there.
They believe the combination of the artificial surface and the whirlwind of different colours will take some getting used to for the Mayo squad, who will also have to combat jetlag after travelling across the Atlantic.
“When I first came up here, it took me nearly a whole month to get used to it,” Kearney said. “It’s just completely different to a grass pitch.
“You can’t just think about the opposition. You have to focus on yourself first and foremost and do what you can to get yourself in the best position.”
For Reilly, the meeting with Mayo is especially important, marking a first meeting against his home county since joining the New York panel. He will also be facing off against some of his former minor teammates who also lined out during that defeat against Kerry ten years ago.
He said he has been engaging in friendly banter with members of the Mayo squad as he prepares to take on his home county for the first time.
“Jordan Flynn has been getting a few Snapchats,” he said. “They’re looking forward to it, we’re looking forward to it… It’s all fun and games until we beat them.”
If, as expected, Mayo put New York to the sword, the Exiles will subsequently take part in the Tailteann Cup later in the summer as they have done for the last two seasons, something Kearney, Reilly, and Wharton believe is crucial for the development of Gaelic football in the Big Apple.
“Some of the lads that have come in for the game against Mayo would have never come in if they didn’t know that there was a Tailteann Cup,” Wharton said.
“We’re not just going home for the craic either. You go home to try and win that game, and we nearly did it last year against Carlow,” Reilly added. “It’s good confidence to bring into this year and hopefully going forward, there’ll be plenty of game for us.
“One game a year was a disaster. Especially after three or four months of hard training.”
