On Saturday afternoon, the New York footballers will emerge from the tunnel at Bord na Móna O'Connor Park for their Tailteann Cup quarter-final clash with Offaly, and in doing so they will end a 21-year wait for the side’s last football championship appearance in Ireland.
Back in 2001, it was Roscommon who provided the opposition at Dr Hyde Park in a Connacht quarter-final and with 15 minutes remaining, one of the GAA’s biggest-ever shocks looked on the cards as the American outfit trailed by just two points with the hosts a man light.
Roscommon, helped by a couple of New York dismissals, would finish strongly though to win 3-13 to 1-09 and they would go on to lift the provincial title after beating Galway in the final.
The Tribesmen would get their revenge in the first-ever set of All-Ireland quarter-finals before travelling on to lift Sam Maguire – the last time the famed trophy has come West.
For New York, to get to the point of nearly causing that shock first required the jumping of a few hurdles.
Just three months earlier, the first case of foot and mouth on the island had been reported in Armagh and the country had to deal with the first outbreak of the disease since 1941. As a consequence, thousands of animals were culled while travel to the country in the second quarter of the year fell by 7%.
The sporting arena wasn’t left untouched either. Ireland saw three Six Nations matches postponed by six months while in the Connacht Championship, London’s clash with Mayo was cancelled due to travel restrictions.
It meant extra checks and form filling for the New York party, but of more concern, as defender and Donegal native Niall McCready explained, was the threat of overzealous American emigration officers.
The year previous, the New York hurlers had played Derry in an Ulster Championship game at Casement Park in Belfast but in 2006, after a shock semi-final win over the Oakleaf County, they wouldn’t return to the city for a final with Antrim due to similar fears. The Saffrons eventually won a delayed decider in Boston later that season.
In 2001, some members of Paddy Kearney’s football squad were nervous in the build-up to the game.
"The biggest concern for a lot of the lads was not getting back after the game," McCready said.
"There were players who had businesses set up, but we got assurances that we would be OK, and we were. This was before 9/11 happened so things were a bit looser in that regard.
"We all pushed on anyway and it worked out alright in the end."
Difficulties were not just confined to travel documents though, with a bit of bad blood between the two sides peppering the build-up.
In December 2000, New York had requested that the game be switched to Gaelic Park in the Bronx and while the Connacht Council said that they would have home advantage for at least the next five years from 2002 onwards, the decision on the 2001 game was left up to Roscommon.
New York offered to cover the Rossies expenses, but their appeal fell on deaf ears, leading to firm comments from then New York president Monty Moloney.
"First they worried about the cost of the journey so we offered to pay their expenses," Moloney said. "Then they were worried about their players’ safety, so we said we’d surround the pitch with barbed wire if they so wanted.
"I came to the conclusion that they’re afraid they’d lose to us if they played us here."
Moloney also promised that New York would not set foot in Roscommon, and while they did stay in Westport in Mayo, when the time came they took to the field at Dr Hyde Park.
With that festering build-up, along with the novelty of the fixture, a crowd of 3,000 had descended on the Hyde, with the half-time parading of the 1951 Roscommon All-Ireland minor winning side adding to the sense of occasion.
The expected cakewalk did not materialise, with New York, who had received a stunningly impassioned pre-match team-talk from manager Kearney, bringing a real physicality to proceedings.
Armagh’s Peter Loughran, whose father Peter senior had kicked five points to break Roscommon hearts in the 1977 All-Ireland semi-final, had grabbed 1-03 but for McCready the real star was New York-born Kevin Lilly, who had managed a couple of scores.
"What a player, what a player," McCready said of Lilly.
"Kevin was New York-born and he was one of the best Gaelic footballers I ever came across. He would have walked onto any county team, no doubt.
"He was about ten years ahead of everyone else because he had the build of an inter-county footballer now. He had that 20 years ago. He would have been doing weights but he had so much natural talent."
Despite their best efforts, John Tobin’s Roscommon would finish like a train, New York’s cause not helped by McCready’s dismissal moments after team-mate PJ Lanigan had been lined. Roscommon goalkeeper Shane 'Cake' Curran had received his marching orders in the first half.
"I had a tough day’s work on [Frankie] Dolan but I thought the sending off was harsh enough," McCready said.
"We had a great time, though we weren’t around for long, we might have come in the Thursday and then our families came down to meet us after it. I can’t believe it’s as long ago."
The acrimony that existed ahead of that 2001 match has been absent for Saturday’s Tailteann Cup encounter in Tullamore.
For McCready, it’s great to see the New York footballers finally back on Irish soil for a championship match.
"I’d always keep an eye on them, here’s hoping they go well."
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