New York Gaelic football manager Alan O’Mara has said that his side is relishing the challenge of taking on Mayo in their Connacht Senior Football Championship quarter-final at Gaelic Park on Sunday.
O’Mara, a former Cavan goalkeeper who was appointed New York manager last December, is preparing for his first intercounty game as manager and said his side has been doing “a lot of work since the beginning of the year” to prepare for Sunday’s clash with Mayo.
Mayo are unbackable favourites for Sunday’s encounter with New York and travel to Gaelic Park with seven Division 1 games under their belt.
New York, meanwhile, have been restricted to in-house training games over the past three months, but O’Mara said he is fully embracing the underdog tag and said his side is itching to go “toe-to-toe” with one of the best teams in the country.
Our season, the schedule, it's very different to every other team We don't have the National League, so it's a very self-motivating experience.
If you gave us a dollar for every time someone told me we had no hope we'd have a few bucks between us. You have to be excited for it and look forward to it because this is our first competitive game… I know the boys are definitely excited for it.
Mayo strolled to a 1-22 to 0-04 when the sides last met in Gaelic Park in 2019, but O’Mara insisted that he is not treating Sunday’s game as a “free-swing” before New York’s Tailteann Cup campaign.
I could sit here now and lie and say it's free swing, that we don't really care. We do care. We've done all this work for a reason. We've done all this work to play against Mayo, to represent New York, and to be the best team that we can be.
I'm excited to see our players try and do that on Sunday.
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Feeding off the Leitrim win
In previous years, a Mayo victory would have brought New York’s championship campaign to an end after just one game, but the introduction of the Tailteann Cup and New York’s inclusion in the competition now guarantees the Exiles at least two games every season.
O’Mara said New York’s inclusion in the tournament has had a “huge” impact on his team’s mentality, adding that the Tailteann Cup was a factor in his interest for the job.
He noted that his side will remain in the Championship until June at minimum and said they have the right to play at least two games.
We want to play a third game and a fourth game and a fifth game. And the Tailteann Cup gives us an opportunity to do that.
If we want to play a third game, or a fourth game, or a fifth game, we have to earn that right, we have to go beat teams. And that's what we'll try and do every time we play.
New York secured their first-ever championship win since joining the All Ireland series in 1999 when they defeated Leitrim in a penalty shootout at Gaelic Park last April.
O’Mara said his team has taken confidence from that win but added that the 2023 season is firmly behind them and that they’re sights are now firmly fixed on Mayo.
It was huge. Anyone that was here, the energy, the buzz, the celebrations, their performance, their commitment, and there was multiple people involved (in the current squad) to make that happen.
And every single one of them is to be like commended and congratulated.
However, he said he made it clear to his squad “from day one” about the importance of looking forward rather than dwelling on past results.
There’s a new season, there's a new competition, there's a new team coming to town, and the joys of elite sport, or high-level sport, is every year you have to prove it again.
Every game you play, you have to prove it again. And in terms of mindset, of course the confidence has been benefited from beating Leitrim last year, but 2023 is done and this is a new team, it's a new management team, it's new players.
