There are only two teams left in the New York Senior football County Championship: Down and Cork. Eugene Kyne preview the game and wonders what team will popping the champagne this Sunday in the 125th anniversary year of the GAA in Ireland and the 95th year of football in the Big Apple.

      DOZENS of victims of child abuse in institutions run by religious orders wept openly and with joy when President Mary McAleese apologized profusely to them on behalf of the people of Ireland for the suffering they had endured. In one of the most emotional occasions in the history of

Victims of Church child abuse wept yesterday as Irish President Mary McAleese apologized for their suffering on behalf of the people of the Republic. “For so long, your suffering seemed to make strangers of you in your own land.”

  In an effort worthy of their mighty subject, the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York will stage a month-long festival of all 26 plays written by William Butler Yeats, the world’s most revered Irish poet. The Rep’s Yeats Project will begin previews on Wednesday, April

Three years after the murder of Co. Clare native John Kelly, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Crimestoppers are offering rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for his murder. Kelly, 43 when he died, was gunned down in cold blood on January 15, 2006 outside the building in the Bronx where he lived and worked as a superintendent.

There are growing demands for a wide-ranging investigation of cancer services following the revelation of the death of a young mother after her illness was misdiagnosed in the same hospital that gave another patient the all-clear before her life was also claimed by cancer.

Edel Kelly, a 26-year-old mother of two boys aged three and six, died last June in Ennis General Hospital while she was preparing legal action against the Health Service Executive (HSE) for bungling that she claimed deprived her of a chance of life.

Her family decided to put aside their private grief and go public with details of Edel's battle after the hospital last week claimed the death of the other woman, Ann Moriarty, in April was an isolated case.

The young daughter of a very good friend - his name is John Kelly and her name is Lucy - has an infatuation with the R word that is on the top of every lip this side of the Big Apple, but it's not the R word as the rest of us know it. While the rest of us are weighed down with the recession, Lucy prefers to call it the reception which, if you think about it, isn't such a bad alternative. In Lucy's world, at least, the recession doesn't exist, which is more than can be said for an institution as sacred as Irish sport.

With the festive season upon us, firstly I would like to wish all a happy Thanksgiving before we get down to the task at hand. Certainly a unique weekend to have for the New York GAA fraternity as it gives three full days of canvassing before the elections for chairman and officers on Sunday. The networks should be ringing off the line with the top job in New York again up for grabs, with two extremely capable candidates running.

Na Fianna 7-7 Cavan 4-16

IN a thrilling Ladies final at Gaelic Park on Sunday, Na Fianna defied the odds with a dazzling comeback from 16 points down to secure a draw with the last kick of the game. It sets up a replay at the same venue on Sunday at 3:30 to try and decide who will be crowned this year's champions.

With both sides giving virtuoso performances in front of goal, Cavan in the first half, Na Fianna in the second, no one deserved to lose.

Tyrone 3-14

Armagh 0-8

TYRONE had far too many weapons for Armagh in the only Junior A semifinal to be played this year. Nine different scorers and a defense that never allowed Armagh to settle made for an easy passage into the next round where St. Raymond's stand in the way of a title and a return to senior football.

Tyrone 6-14

St. Raymond's 1-6

TYRONE returned to senior football after a five year absence with an emphatic win over St. Raymond's in the Junior A final last Sunday.

Cavan 2-13

St. Barnabas 0-17

CAVAN used a goal in each half of regular time to pull back St. Barnabas leads and then dominated on the scoreboard, in two 10-minute periods of extra time, to advance to meet Four Provinces in next week's Senior B final.

THE New York senior football team has a new manager for the visit of Galway on October 9. (Didn't we write this last week!)

News over the weekend was the appointment of Seamus Smith, who is a familiar face at Gaelic Park over the years. He can be seen commentating on Sundays as he shares the chore with Mike Cassidy.

Galway 4-15

New York 1-13

GALWAY came to Gaelic Park last Sunday and left with an easy win over New York in the FBD Connaught League final of 2008.

A trophy that New York won in 2004, Galway are now the standard bearers with five titles, followed by Mayo with four since the competition's introduction in 1995.

Jumping out in to an early 3-7 to 0-2 advantage after 25 minutes, they used a brilliant display by the full forward line and excellent defending by the defense when it mattered most to get into an insurmountable lead.

The New York GAA will have a new chairman for the upcoming year after Larry McCarthy decisively defeated the incumbent John Riordan in the annual election on Sunday.

After six years as secretary of the association, McCarthy now steps into the top seat following a one-year term by Riordan. With all 62 delegates on hand to vote, the Cork native came away with a 35 to 27 victory, with the advantage that much wider when the fact that Riordan's club Kerry has four votes (two for each team) against McCarthy's club Sligo's two votes taken into account.

Kelly comes second to Murphy as the most common surname in Ireland. The name is popular because it originates from at least seven different and unrelated ancient clans or septs. These include O'Kelly septs from Meath, Derry, Antrim, Laois, Sligo, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Galway and Roscommon, and the McKelly sept from East Connaught.

April showers not only bring May flowers, they also bring Damien Dempsey back to our shores.

Damo will be hitting the road this month, playing dates through the East Coast and Midwest. He's back for the second U.

MILTOWN MALBAY - The sun was declining into a calm Atlantic Ocean and level with the Cliffs of Moher as I made my way down the scenic west coast of Clare on a brilliant late spring Saturday night for a night of majestic uilleann piping.

Given that it was still April, it didn't have anything to do with the famous Willie Clancy Summer School that dominates these shores come the first week of July. Rather, it was the annual Doran Centenary Piping Tionol that was paying homage to the legacy of Johnny and Felix Doran, the pipers from the traveling community, or pavees, in another parlance.