Buoyant New York touch down for Sligo mission

Once Monday came after New York's historic win over Leitrim in Gaelic Park, time to celebrate was limited.

It was a hectic dash to plan the trip to Ireland for the Connacht SFC semi-final against Sligo.

Flights, hotels, transport and more had to be organised for about 50 people, including players and management.

Less than two weeks on, all has gone according to plan. The New York team arrived in Dublin Airport in the early hours of Friday morning and headed straight for Bundoran in Donegal, their base for the next few days.

A brief rest, a bit of bracing Bundoran air to blow away the jetlag, and it was down to business and back down the road to Sligo.

The team had an hour to familiarise themselves with Markievicz Park and have a kick-about. The game against Sligo will be played on Saturday afternoon, throw in is at 2.30pm and the match will be streamed live on GAAGO.

Very aware that they had already made history, the players were upbeat and confident ahead of taking on Sligo.

Mikey Brosnan, the New York-born player who scored the final penalty in the shootout win against Leitrim, said the pressure is off them now.

There was pressure before in that they hadn't won a game, he said, but now they've done it and everything after this is a plus.

Mikey said the team is ready for Sligo now and definitely feel they can "give it to them because we played them last year and we felt like we had the better of them then".

"Everyone is chomping at the bit to get out there", said Jamie Boyle. "We played this Sligo team last year , it's the same panel for the most part so we know a lot of the dangermen, and we also have confidence in the training we have put in together in the last few months and confidence is obviously sky-high after the victory