By Cian O’Connell

US GAA 2023 Finals tournament in Denver, Colorado proved to be another successful event.

Nearly 3,000 players participated in the three day tournament which attracted teams from all over the USA.

Bernie Connaughton, US GAA chairperson, was delighted with the response from the clubs involved. “It was probably the biggest one we had so far, we had 120 teams, who played 100 games over the course of the three days,” Connaughton says.

“It was sort of unusual, it was in Denver this year, it is usually in one of the bigger cities. Denver would be one of our smaller divisions, but it went well overall.

“We basically set up in a soccer complex. Everything had to be put in place in the week heading into it for the three days that we had the facility.”

The growth of Gaelic Games in the USA is a source of significant optimism for Connaughton. “The major cities like Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, they host it once every six years,” he explains. “We are a combination of 10 divisions and we give the other divisions a chance to host it in between. So they host it every other year in between.

“We had 2,500 to 3,000 players with the 120 teams. I understand a lot of them are dual players, but it was huge for Denver. It puts them on the map to show the local people what goes on in Denver.

“We are in cities all over the country now and people don't even know we exist. So it is great to put on something like this, we are growing at an unbelievable rate. We have five or six new clubs every year. It is great to go to one of these cities.

“I understand it is tough on the clubs because when you fly into a place like Denver, you might have to drive another hour to your hotel and another half an hour to get to the field. It is a big undertaking for the clubs.”

The energy, enthusiasm, and emergence of an increasing number of homegrown players adds further hope for the future. “Over the years we used to be at 70 or 80 per cent Irish playing our games here,” Connaughton reflects.

“Now we are close to 70 per cent American playing our games. Basically they go on about the student and sanctioned players, who go out for the summer. That is less than 10 per cent of our player base right now.

“We have put a lot of rules in place over the last number of years to cut back on the amount of players allowed on the field from Ireland.

"At senior level you have to have two homegrown players on the field at all times. Then as the grades go down lower, it is basically all homegrown players.”

It has helped clubs become more sustainable according to Connaughton. “Definitely, in the past they depended on what was going to come during the summer,” he replies. “Now they don't have to. The American kids are coming through at an unbelievable pace.”

The ambition is for US GAA to send a team to the All-Ireland Junior Championships next year, a competition New York won at Croke Park in 2023.

“Right now we are putting a panel together to play in the Junior All-Ireland Championship next year hopefully,” Connaughton says.

“We have trials coming up in the first week of October in Chicago. We are bringing in 80 players. US GAA is everybody outside of New York, but for this team you have to be born in America, homegrown.

“There can't be any Irish players, it has to be homegrown. At the start 150 players applied, we have it cut down to 80. We are bringing 80 players to Chicago and we will cut that down to 26-30.

“Over the winter and spring it will depend on where most of the players are from, what area of the country - that is probably where we will go to have our training sessions.”

It is another welcome development, illustrating the hard work being carried out by clubs throughout the USA.