Leagues apart: Final could go to New York

The GAA is set to discuss bringing one of the 2014 national league finals to New York, as part of the centenary celebrations of the association’s establishment in the city.

According to GAA president Liam O’Neill, who was speaking to media at the end of this year’s trip to New York by the GAA-GPA All Stars, sponsored by Opel, the matter will be discussed at next weekend’s Management Committee meeting.

Re-iterating comments he made at the Irish Consulate last week, O’Neill said the GAA was conscious of all that its New York community had contributed to both the association and the country at large. The approaching centenary would, he said, be an opportunity to recognise that.

“That opens up the possibility of us hosting a major final in New York and I think given what New York has contributed to us, we would have to look at any request like that very seriously. We’ll be working with them to mark that significantly.

“We’re talking about a significant final and we are putting this on the table for Management Committee next week so we can get our initial thoughts on it.”

Saying that speculation about a league final being the choice of event “wouldn’t be far off”, O’Neill added that New York’s bid to host the 2014 annual congress was not feasible.

“Bringing congress to New York would be unjustifiable in the current economic climate and congress is enough of a cost to the organisation without bringing it to New York. I don’t think a weekend where people gather in a hall is going to make a huge impact .”