The GAA summer transfer to the US of A has long held mutual appeal.
The chance for an exotic (sometimes working) holiday with a bit of ball thrown in is an easy sell to young inter-county players while the clubs benefit from some high quality recruits.
The tradition has not been without its controversies of course, such as the late Galway hurler Tony Keady being made a public example of for an unsanctioned club appearance in New York in 1989, and former GAA president Sean McCague threatening to ban the practice altogether in 2002.
The harlequin nature of the season up until this year complicated matters, with players often making hasty departures after their county's championship exits and missing club campaigns, or sitting out the year with the county.
But the introduction of a more defined inter-county season, and most counties not starting their club championships until August, has opened a window for players to sample all three experiences, if that's what they want.
Clare forward Keelan Sexton first travelled to play for Donegal Boston in 2019, having left the panel after survival in the Allianz Football League was assured.
This year, he initially turned down the opportunity but, after Clare were beaten by Derry in an All-Ireland quarter-final, found himself on a plane days later.
"I think I was on the panel four or five years at that stage and just needed a break for the body," the 25-year-old Kilmurry-Ibrickane man told RTÉ Sport of his first venture Stateside. "It definitely recharged the batteries
"I really enjoyed it. The weather is good. It's a great city, there is loads to do and it's a great base for travelling.
"I had been asked earlier in the season if I was interested and I said no, I was obviously hoping we could go further with Clare than we did. It turned out we didn't and that was on a Saturday so I said 'Why not, I'm probably not going to get too many more opportunities'.
"I got back to family members and it happened fairly quickly, I was on a plane I think by Tuesday.
"It was nice because I knew with the club and inter-county season being split, I wasn't going to miss a whole pile. I missed one [club] game. You don't feel half as guilty then. You want to give as much time to the lads you grew up with as you do with the county."
Sexton was finishing a law masters in Trinity this summer and will shortly start work as a trainee solicitor so decided to take the opportunity for a footballing holiday while he still had the option.
"You can do your travelling, see what you want to see and you're keeping fit as well," he said. "That's an added bonus, you're not just out there partying.
"I was actually getting my masters thesis finished at the time so I was going into the Boston Common Library and taking it easy, seeing a few sights. I visited a couple of friends up in New York, we got down to Cape Cod a few times, in and around the city. Boston is a great city and Logan Airport has connections to everywhere.
"I can only speak to Donegal but they were absolute gents. The guys who run the club, Paddy McDevitt and a few others, they are sound out. They're really accommodating, picked you up for training, gave us lifts, anything at all. You couldn't speak highly enough of them.
"The houses were brilliant. You would get work if you wanted to and had a visa organised, a couple of guys were on J1s.
"Guys who are out there years and lose their job are looked after by the club straight away. You nearly feel it's more what like the GAA is out there than what you think it is at home. The Irish abroad are the stereotypical Irish person who will help anyone anyway they can, it's even more prominent out there, I think, than at home."
There are four senior teams in Boston, who play each other in a group stage, followed by a semi-final and a final.
The season gets going in June - Sexton arrived with two games gone - and the temperature rises a notch with the trickle of players arriving from Ireland.
"We had [former Dublin star] Paul Mannion, Shane Killoran, Cian Connolly [both Roscommon], from Donegal Kieran Tobin and Ciaran McFaul [Derry]. A lot of top men. You make great mates out of it, I still chat away to them back here. A great experience.
"They're your family out there. You're living with these guys and that's who you're training and playing with. They were all really sound.
"You meet a lot of great lads. Everyone from home who is based there are such gents, they adapt you into the club straight away.
"You have to be on the top of your game out there. The heat was insane, in our semi-final it was just below 40C.
"The standard is pretty decent. It's quite open: 13-a-side so it's a joy for a forward. The way the game has gone it's probably more fun to play, it's very hard to set up a blanket with that many players. There's a lot of ball being kicked, it's up and down, there are a lot of mistakes. It's intense stuff but really enjoyable."
Donegal Boston were going for four in a row - Diarmuid Connolly was on the team in 2018 - but an Aidan McEnespies side with Fermanagh man James McMahon dethroned them in the decider.
Nonetheless, Sexton enjoyed the experience and is a firm fan of the new calendar
"The certainty that's around the season with a split is better for everyone that's involved," he said.
"I think it is way better for the game because of that and it is going to keep lads at the table for longer. It will help people identify how to go about their lives and have a better work-social- life balance with sport.
"Everyone hums and haws about amateur status but that was the first full hard inter-county season in two years and my body needed a break. Just to be able to get away, not necessarily switch off completely but come down a level and keep fit at the same time. It brought a bit of fun back.
"Maybe there is room to extend [the inter-county section] by two or three weeks. But going forward I think the split-season is the way to go. It allows lads to have their lives organised. I think it's going to keep the girlfriends and the wives happy, all of a sudden they are going to see a couple of breaks.
"The game is nothing without the volunteers and the players that do it. That's the most important thing. From talking to a lot of guys about it, the consensus is that they're really happy with it, it has provided a bit more structure to their life.
I got off the flight Thursday or Friday, slept about five/six hours over the two days with jet lag then played Ennistymon
"Everybody involved in a panel wants to play inter-county GAA and get their county to the highest level but on the flip side of that, I don't think their other lives should be abused. It's good for them to be able to identify areas where they can take their break. And then the club players knows when they need to be getting fit for, when they can target."
Sexton spent seven weeks in America in all. He only missed 16-time winners Kilmurry-Ibrickane's Clare championship group opener - a victory over Doonbeg - and was back for the narrow loss to Ennistymon.
This weekend, they need to avoid defeat against Clondegad to ensure a place in the knock-out stages.
"I got off the flight Thursday or Friday, slept about five/six hours over the two days with jet lag then played Ennistymon," he said. "But it was great to be back with the guys.
"We're playing on Sunday now against Clondegad, the Brennans [Gary, Shane and Cillian] and a few other guys, so that's a massive test for us.
"We're hoping that will be the start of our season in terms of where we want to go in the Clare championship.
"We'll be there or thereabouts if we can get our ship in order."
