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Longford native appointed as Senior Football Manager and backroom team for the 2020 season.

New York GAA Board has appointed a senior football manager and backroom team for the 2020 season. Gerry Fox, a native of Ballinalee, Co. Longford and former Longford player, has been appointed manager for a two-year term.  Last year he was a selector as part of Justin O’Halloran’s backroom team. 

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Fox has quite an impressive track record in the Big Apple since getting involved in team management. He was part of the Longford setup that captured the intermediate championship before switching to the Sligo club. Last year he managed the Yeats County to double honors, as they captured the league and championship intermediate titles. 

This year Sligo, with Fox at the helm, was in the winner’s circle as they captured the New York senior championship, the club’s first premier title in over 31 years. 

Assisting Fox will be Johnny Glynn, the former Galway All-Ireland hurling winner.  Incidentally, Glynn was a pivotal part of the Sligo squad, operating quite effectively in the middle of the field or as an optimal target man when the need dictated. 

Of course, Glynn was on the New York team in 2016 when Roscommon was lucky to escape with a one-point victory, though the outcome could have been radically different if Kevin Connolly’s late blistering shot went under rather than over.  Time will tell what exactly Glynn’s portfolio will be -- namely player, trainer or management. 

Johnny McGeeney, an Armagh native and more recently a super-sub with St. Barnabas, is also part of the management team.  McGeeney has been doing Trojan work with the developmental squads, and that role becomes more critical in the Big Apple as the supply line of players from Ireland has slowed to a trickle.  McGeeney has very fittingly been appointed as the coaching officer for the New York Board. 

Sean Kelly, a Dromahair man from the Leitrim club, is also part of the Big Apple set up.  Kelly is a former New York player from 2012, but he has been a major factor in the rebuilding and resurgence of the Leitrim club in New York. 

Dermot Yorke is also on board.  The industrious Longford man, besides his affiliations with the Kerry and Longford clubs, was also part of O’Halloran’s team. 

Obviously Fox values the backroom squad that eventually propelled Sligo out of the doldrums as Brian Henry, longtime faithful Sligo servant, is also co-opted to the backroom team.  Rounding out the team is another Longford man, Cormack McCormack, who has been the linchpin of the Big Apple Longford squad for a number of years. 

Based on all the discussions and debates about the revamping the championship format in Ireland, it seems that New York might be surplus to requirements, and thus cast aside eventually.  GAA President John Horan addressed that issue last week and stated that New York would not be left out in the cold and that they would still get a game. 

This could be conjured up along the lines of an intercontinental competition, with New York perhaps playing tier two winners.

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