THEY HAD TO pull the plug on the Chicago GAA senior football final last Sunday due to thunderstorms and a downfall of ‘biblical type rain’ which left the local Gaelic Park pitch flooded.
And when they returned on Monday afternoon – the Chicago GAA TV commentator reckoned a midweek final was a first in the region – the Pádraig Pearses and John McBrides clubs needed extra time to find a winner.
In the closing moments of normal time, with John McBrides a point ahead, Tyrone’s star forward Eoin McElholm cleared a ball out of his own defence and slumped down onto his hunkers. Exhausted.
Further up the pitch, Ronan Cassidy, another cracking young Tyrone forward, played keep ball for a while with former Dublin senior Lorcan O’Dell.
It’s been an interesting year so far for O’Dell, to say the least. He started against Donegal, Monaghan and Kerry in the League for Dublin but was surprisingly absent when Ger Brennan announced his Championship panel in mid-April.
Lorcan O'Dell in action for Dublin earlier this year. Tom Maher / INPHO
Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO
A fortnight later, O’Dell’s request for a USGAA summer sanction was approved and he packed his bags for Chicago.
In his absence, Templeogue Synge Street got their Dublin SFC campaign underway last Saturday evening and were beaten out the gates of Parnell Park by holders Ballyboden St Enda’s, 2-18 to 0-1. After a shellacking like that, there is no suggestion the outcome would have been any different if he’d stayed at home.
On Monday afternoon in Chicago, the 2025 Sigerson Cup winner got a flavour of the disappointment experienced by his Synger clubmates.
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John McBrides led for most of the Chicago final but when Leitrim’s Paul Honeyman – Honeyman and O’Dell also faced off in that 2025 Sigerson final – and Donegal’s Finbarr Roarty combined, they created an opening for James Kelly of Laois to kick the leveller, forcing extra time.
Finbarr Roarty tracks Paudie Clifford. James Lawlor / INPHO
James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
It was something similar at the end of extra time, McBrides powerless to prevent a two-point lead turning into a one-point defeat. Roarty was a central figure again, dovetailing with another Donegal player, Niall O’Donnell, to set up Roscommon’s prolific shooter Eoin Colleran for a two-point score that won the game, 3-22 to 2-24.
And so the Pearses franked their ticket to Boston and this weekend’s USGAA finals. They will meet Donegal Philadelphia in the first of Saturday’s semi-finals while the Ulster club, from San Francisco, will take on Galway Boston in the other semi-final.
Over 4,000 are expected at the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton with 58 hours of games taking place in various codes – around 100 games in total – across five fields that have been prepared for the three-day festival.
As long-serving USGAA official Paul Keane told Clubber TV this week, the games will run from 8am on Friday morning to 6pm on Sunday evening.
There’s counties in Ireland that would have less games in their championship all summer and we’re getting it done in one weekend,” he said. “We’ll have probably 2,500 players wristbanded that weekend, registered to go on the field.”
Sunday’s senior football final will be the highlight of the festival and will be carried live by Clubber, who will be picking up action throughout the weekend from the main pitch.
For all the high-profile club championship games that will take place in Ireland over the weekend, nowhere will there be more star performers on the one pitch than in Boston.
Callum Bolton, a starter for Kildare in the 2026 Championship, was man of the match for the Galway club last Sunday when they beat Aidan McAnespies to retain the Boston SFC title.
When Bolton smashed in the first goal of the final, he finished off a move engineered by Westmeath’s Leinster SFC title winning duo Daniel Scahill and Senan Baker.
Bolton curled over a game-clinching two-pointer later on, allowing captain Ciarán Potter to lift the cup and kickstart a sing-song.
Bolton has been joined in the US for the summer by Kildare colleagues Rian Teahan and Darragh Swords and Wicklow’s Cillian McDonald. Galway’s Cathal Sweeney is another huge name in attack.
Ulster defeated Seán Treacys 0-21 to 1-13 in the San Francisco final at Páirc na nGael at the start of the month. Wearing the traditional all yellow Ulster GAA strip, they too have benefited from an influx of household names including Armagh duo Tomás McCormack and Darragh McMullan, Tyrone’s Ben Cullen and Michael Rafferty and Charlie Diamond of Derry.
Shea Malone, a bolter this year in Jim McGuinness’ Donegal forward line, will be the big attraction for those tuning in to watch Donegal Philadelphia take on Pearses in the first semi-final.
A summer in the States is a life experience first and foremost. As Bolton, wearing the maroon of Galway, said after their Boston final win, it’s been a summer of fun sharing a house with fellow county men Swords and Shea Ryan.
“It’s been great fun and great seeing the area, the experience I’ve had with everyone, it’s been very enjoyable,” said Bolton.
But with the significant profile and coverage being afforded to the regional and USGAA championships, the titles are increasingly coveted. The Courtney Cup is what they’ll be playing for this weekend in Boston.
“When you come over here, you want to win it,” stressed Pearses forward Niall O’Donnell. “You don’t want to come over here for anything else. All of us are coming over here to play football and to win.”
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'When you come over here, you want to win it' - county stars bring their competitive edge to US
THEY HAD TO pull the plug on the Chicago GAA senior football final last Sunday due to thunderstorms and a downfall of ‘biblical type rain’ which left the local Gaelic Park pitch flooded.
And when they returned on Monday afternoon – the Chicago GAA TV commentator reckoned a midweek final was a first in the region – the Pádraig Pearses and John McBrides clubs needed extra time to find a winner.
In the closing moments of normal time, with John McBrides a point ahead, Tyrone’s star forward Eoin McElholm cleared a ball out of his own defence and slumped down onto his hunkers. Exhausted.
Further up the pitch, Ronan Cassidy, another cracking young Tyrone forward, played keep ball for a while with former Dublin senior Lorcan O’Dell.
It’s been an interesting year so far for O’Dell, to say the least. He started against Donegal, Monaghan and Kerry in the League for Dublin but was surprisingly absent when Ger Brennan announced his Championship panel in mid-April.
A fortnight later, O’Dell’s request for a USGAA summer sanction was approved and he packed his bags for Chicago.
In his absence, Templeogue Synge Street got their Dublin SFC campaign underway last Saturday evening and were beaten out the gates of Parnell Park by holders Ballyboden St Enda’s, 2-18 to 0-1. After a shellacking like that, there is no suggestion the outcome would have been any different if he’d stayed at home.
On Monday afternoon in Chicago, the 2025 Sigerson Cup winner got a flavour of the disappointment experienced by his Synger clubmates.
John McBrides led for most of the Chicago final but when Leitrim’s Paul Honeyman – Honeyman and O’Dell also faced off in that 2025 Sigerson final – and Donegal’s Finbarr Roarty combined, they created an opening for James Kelly of Laois to kick the leveller, forcing extra time.
It was something similar at the end of extra time, McBrides powerless to prevent a two-point lead turning into a one-point defeat. Roarty was a central figure again, dovetailing with another Donegal player, Niall O’Donnell, to set up Roscommon’s prolific shooter Eoin Colleran for a two-point score that won the game, 3-22 to 2-24.
And so the Pearses franked their ticket to Boston and this weekend’s USGAA finals. They will meet Donegal Philadelphia in the first of Saturday’s semi-finals while the Ulster club, from San Francisco, will take on Galway Boston in the other semi-final.
Over 4,000 are expected at the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton with 58 hours of games taking place in various codes – around 100 games in total – across five fields that have been prepared for the three-day festival.
As long-serving USGAA official Paul Keane told Clubber TV this week, the games will run from 8am on Friday morning to 6pm on Sunday evening.
Sunday’s senior football final will be the highlight of the festival and will be carried live by Clubber, who will be picking up action throughout the weekend from the main pitch.
For all the high-profile club championship games that will take place in Ireland over the weekend, nowhere will there be more star performers on the one pitch than in Boston.
Callum Bolton, a starter for Kildare in the 2026 Championship, was man of the match for the Galway club last Sunday when they beat Aidan McAnespies to retain the Boston SFC title.
When Bolton smashed in the first goal of the final, he finished off a move engineered by Westmeath’s Leinster SFC title winning duo Daniel Scahill and Senan Baker.
Bolton curled over a game-clinching two-pointer later on, allowing captain Ciarán Potter to lift the cup and kickstart a sing-song.
Bolton has been joined in the US for the summer by Kildare colleagues Rian Teahan and Darragh Swords and Wicklow’s Cillian McDonald. Galway’s Cathal Sweeney is another huge name in attack.
Ulster defeated Seán Treacys 0-21 to 1-13 in the San Francisco final at Páirc na nGael at the start of the month. Wearing the traditional all yellow Ulster GAA strip, they too have benefited from an influx of household names including Armagh duo Tomás McCormack and Darragh McMullan, Tyrone’s Ben Cullen and Michael Rafferty and Charlie Diamond of Derry.
Shea Malone, a bolter this year in Jim McGuinness’ Donegal forward line, will be the big attraction for those tuning in to watch Donegal Philadelphia take on Pearses in the first semi-final.
A summer in the States is a life experience first and foremost. As Bolton, wearing the maroon of Galway, said after their Boston final win, it’s been a summer of fun sharing a house with fellow county men Swords and Shea Ryan.
“It’s been great fun and great seeing the area, the experience I’ve had with everyone, it’s been very enjoyable,” said Bolton.
But with the significant profile and coverage being afforded to the regional and USGAA championships, the titles are increasingly coveted. The Courtney Cup is what they’ll be playing for this weekend in Boston.
“When you come over here, you want to win it,” stressed Pearses forward Niall O’Donnell. “You don’t want to come over here for anything else. All of us are coming over here to play football and to win.”
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