Brosnan brothers' fairytale: From the Kingdom to New York

A fairytale that started in the Kingdom, ended in New York.

There were incredible scenes in the Bronx last Saturday night as New York won their first ever match in the Connacht SFC, at the 23rd attempt, beating Leitrim in a dramatic penalty shootout.

And it was a native New Yorker who sealed the triumph, Mikey Brosnan firing home the decisive penalty to send the home fans wild.

Mikey and his brother Shane are key players for the Exiles. Their dad Mike is a Kerryman who won a county title with St Kieran's back in 1988. Mike is the chairman of the St Barnabas club in the Big Apple and is steeped in the GAA community Stateside.

That made Saturday particularly special for Mikey and Shane, two Irish Americans who have dreamed of helping New York to a provincial victory since childhood.

"It's surreal," 22-year-old Mikey told RTÉ Sport's Darren Frehill. "We've been dreaming about this since we were young. I can't believe we won. We'll see what we can do now in two weeks [when they travel to Sligo for the Connacht SFC semi-final].

"I first came into the New York set-up during Covid. We were supposed to play Galway and it got called off.

"Johnny McGeeney and Johnny Glynn were the management at that time. They pulled me aside. I was young, I didn't have a chance to play against Galway, but they were building something for the next few years.

"Even last year, when we lost to Sligo, in the dressing room it was, 'the team has to stay together', because that's what New York couldn't do for the last ten years.

"We kept the bulk of the players and then you add the guys who came in, they're all county level - they're huge to us this year."

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