New York GAA: Looking back and forward

Honorable mention to Kerry, the senior champs. Manager of the year: Paddy O'Connor of Kerry. His team lost two games in the court rooms in the middle of the summer, and it could have devastated the team. While it certainly helped that the Kingdom had one of the best talents to come across the pond in years in Stephen Kavanagh, it was the vocal Paddy who steered the ship and brought them to title glory. The former New York star pulled all the right strings against Cork in the semis, and a brilliant Down squad in the final. Honorable mention to Fergus Daly, Pat Scanlon of Cork, Mark Comerford with Offaly hurlers, and Pat Ryan with an overachieving St. Ray's team. Most exciting player: Stephen Kavanagh of Kerry. While the New York all-stars are given out to home based players and rightfully so, the Magic Man from Killanin in Galway was out on his own for the Kingdom as a 60-day sanction.

They do not take the county title without this player, no argument. Cool, calm and collected, he stands up with Eanna Kavanagh from Kerry, Padraig Kissane of Donegal and Eric Bradley of Stamford as the best I have seen in my years in the park from a football standpoint. Best individual performance: Barry McElduff of Tyrone. His four goals in the Junior A final were outstanding. Man of the match in the brilliant performance.

More who stood out were Michael Donnellon in his one appearance for Four Provinces. Stephen Brown for Offaly hurlers on a couple of occasions was phenomenal. Mike Higgins was good on a tough day against Galway in the FBD. Also, Kavanagh with 10 points in the county final against Down, and Molly O'Rourke's 3-5 against Cavan in the drawn county final. Score of the year: Paddy Tomo Smyth of Cavan. It was a laser to the net from 25 yards out in the Senior B final when the game was still on the line. With Cavan holding a slim lead (0-5 to 0-4), Tomo broke in on the right and had only one thing on his mind. He did not disappoint as he crashed a thunderbolt to the net at the Riverdale end. Willie O'Donnell had a wonderful goal in the Astoria -Kerry quarterfinal when he broke in on the left at the same end. The ball was in the net in a blink. Paul Broderick from Four Provinces kicked a point from the turf from over 72 yards out in front of the press box at the height of the summer. Conor O'Donnell put a sideline over from under the railway tracks on the 50 in another encounter. Weirdest game to be involved in: Cavan vs. Four Provinces in the pouring rain on Field Day Saturday. The ball was getting hard to see, but we ploughed on as both sides battled for the league points. Never again award: In a Junior A contest both sides were asked to produce all player IDs by the respective managers. It should never come down to that, and never needs to be seen again. Enough said.

​
Nster.com