Shane Carthy had to put in a hell of a lot of effort to make it to the Bronx on Sunday.
But it was all worth-while for the Dubliner, who kicked a late, great point off his left foot to send the game to extra-time. Having got there, New York went onto beat Leitrim in a penalty shoot-out to record their first ever victory in the Connacht championship.
After 22 failed attempts, this long-awaited win was understandably celebrated with great fervour by the Exiles, who have competed in the competition since 1995.
Carthy, the two-time All-Ireland winner with Dublin, played a key role in the triumph, scoring 0-3 on the night, and in many ways, the win vindicated the sacrifices he has made to to play for New York.
First of all, Carthy is based in Boston which means that, for all the training sessions he has made it to this year, it’s been an eight hour-round commute to get there and back.
“It’s been difficult. I spoke with Johnny McGeeney, our manager, and looked at the diary and checked how we could work this out,” Carthy said on The Sunday Game.
“It was ten trips in total, including the game.
Powerful 🥹🙌☘ pic.twitter.com/a1S17CTZ44
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) April 9, 2023
“I got into a good routine in terms of getting down to training, and it worked out quite well,” he added.
He went onto reveal then that a torn quad, sustained last week, threatened to de-rail his participation in the game.
He did make it to the field, however, and speaking on The Sunday Game, his former Dublin team-mate Paul Flynn wasn’t surprised at the impact he went onto have.
“Shane played in the same position as me, so I had him chasing me down for my jersey down through the years,” said the Fingallians club-man.
“Through our prime, this lad was the fittest player on the Dublin team, really well conditioned.”
Sean Cavanagh asked Carthy if that left footed point, from the wing, was something he’d learned off Flynn.
“I actually tore my quad last week,” replied Carthy.
“So I couldn’t kick off my right all game so I just had to do everything with the left, that was the plan.
“That was Flynners’ pocket, on the right hand side, but I don’t know if he could do that off his left!”
Sensational score from @NewYorkGAA’s Shane Carthy sends it to extra-time in New York, what a game #GAA @GAAGO pic.twitter.com/rOhQ5qCEt2
— Seán Hussey (@SeanHussey00) April 8, 2023
New York will take on Sligo in the Connacht semi-final in a fortnight’s time.
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