From Mayo footballer to band trombonist, Tommy makes proud return to Gaelic Park in New York
WHEN Castlebar Concert Band marches proudly into Gaelic Park, New York, next Sunday, the occasion will bring back a flood of glorious memories to one member of the lower brass section.
Trombonist Tommy O'Malley spent many happy summer days at the venue when he regularly turned out for the Mayo side in the annual New York GAA championships.
The Ballinrobe native, a prominent member of his club and county's senior football squads throughout the 1970s, fulfilled countless invitations over a decade to fly out to the Big Apple and perform for the red and green in the very competitive New York series – an event that also attracted many of Ireland's leading Gaelic footballers of the era.
He recalled: “As a young man, it was a magical experience. You would get a telephone call from the US during the week to tell you that plane tickets would be left in Shannon Airport on a Friday evening to travel out to New York for a match at the weekend.
“I regarded it as a huge honour and, to be honest, I rarely missed a game. Other Mayo stars of that era, including Ray Prendergast, John Morley, Sean Kilbride, Frank Burns and Johnny McKenzie would be with me on those journeys.
“We'd arrive out there, get a mightly welcome, spend Saturday taking it easy and, on Sunday, there were matches taking place all day at Gaelic Park. It was the place where all Irish exiles gathered and people setting out on a new life in the US found their first jobs by meeting the right people there.
“We played our matches and, I can tell you, there was no quarter asked or given. As soon as we finished, it was back to JFK and we were back home for work on Monday, albeit a little tired.”
Tommy also lined out in Gaelic Park with the All-Stars against All-Ireland champions Kerry in 1976. The Connaught Telegraph's GAA columnist, Martin Carney, was also a member of the tour party.
“I have very fond memories of the venue, but I have not been there in over 40 years. So I am really looking forward to returning there in a totally different capacity, as a member of Castlebar Concert Band. The band has a long association with Mayo GAA and performs at all the home championship matches at Elverys McHale Park while we also travelled for the game in Ruislip, London, two years ago.
“We are proud, thanks to John Prenty and others, to be providing the pre-match entertainment for the game and regard it as a very prestigious engagement. We have been preparing a long trip time for the trip and have three other engagements in the city during our stay.
“Our supporters in Castlebar have been very generous to us during our fundraising for the trip. There is an immense sense of love and loyalty towards the town band in Castlebar and we treasure that very much. There is a wonderful team spirit within the ranks and I am honoured to be involved. While the GAA means so much to our exiles, I also know how much they appreciate hearing music arrangements associated with their nation.
“I witnessed that at first hand when the 1972 All-Ireland final was screened live in New York for the first time via Eurovision at Lowe's Paradise Theatre in The Bronz thanks to a brave business initiative by some great Mayo GAA men in New York: John Fitzgerald (Irishtown), Mattie Forde (Kiltimagh), Michael Glynn (Claremorris), Mickey Morley (Ballyhaunis) and Michael McDonnell (Balla).
“It is still one of my greatest memories. Going to the theatre to see the match between Kerry and Offaly that morning was like walking up Jones Road in Dublin, such was the crowd, colour and excitement.
“There were 3,000 inside the venue and when the pictures first started coming through, the Artane Boys Band was playing in Croke Park. The place lit up with the emotion displayed by Irish people, many of whom had not been home in 30 to 40 years. That moment will always live with me.”
Tommy's Mayo GAA colleague, Sean Kilbride, shared that memory of what he described as 'a great sense of Irishness and community brought together in a big arena, a sense of comradeship and kinship, of common values and passions’.
He stated: “There was also the wonder of it technically and the possibility of failure (in the transmission and the pictures being lost). Then when it worked we were proud to be there for this historic occasion and that Mayomen were involved.”
The age of communications has changed dramatically since those days, of course. But people's emotions, and particularly those of Irish emigrants, have not.
Make no mistake, the arrival of the Mayo GAA squad, the Castlebar Concert Band and over 8,000 supporters will mean so much to the Irish community in New York next weekend.
* Tom Burke, the father of Castlebar Concert Band euphonium player, Todd Burke, played in goal for Mayo at Gaelic Park in 1937.