Fond memories of toasting our hurlers in the big green apple

Featured in the Christmas week edition of the Limerick Leader newspaper.

“It was very exciting travelling to New York especially to celebrate the big win. We were thrilled to have been invited and to be a part of the celebrations”, said Róise McIntyre who travelled from Glin to New York for the dinner/dance. 

Pat Reidy of Glin was selected as this year's Honorary Guest and was accompanied at the event by his wife Lorraine, children Fionn and Chloe, family, friends and employees. 

New York/ Limerick Club Player of the Year, Mick Ward was also honoured on the night. 

The event kicked off at 7pm with cocktail hour followed by an uilleann pipe march leading into some words from the committee organisers and special guests.

Limerick Senior Hurling Team captain, Declan Hannon thanked the club and all attendees for their continued support, giving special thanks to Pat for his continued involvement with the team over the years.

Limerick hurling’s three-in-a-row victory was celebrated in style in New York on November 4 of this year. 

The event was hosted by the Club Limerick New York committee and held at the Lake Isle Country Club in Eastchester. 

The club welcomed over 400 people to the event, with about 50 guests traveling from Ireland for the occasion. 

Amongst the guests were a number of the Limerick Senior Hurling team including Limerick Hurling captain, Declan Hannon and his fiancé, Louise Cantillon, Sean Finn, Gearóid Heagharty, Kyle Hayes and Darragh O’Donovan. John Kiely and other members of management were also present. 

Pat opened his speech with the line, “A very warm welcome to you all here tonight to share this great honour”.

“I am a proud Glin man, a proud Limerick man, a proud Irish man, a proud New Yorker and a proud American but tonight I am simply proud to be in this room. We are celebrating an historic occasion, there are people in this room that will be talked about 100 years from now”, said Pat.

Reflecting on the night, Chairman of the committee, Ed Wiley said, “This was our third and most successful event to date and the guest of honour was exceptional this year. It went fantastic”. 

Another notable addition to the attendees was the Liam McCarthy cup which made the journey across the Atlantic for the event and was the star of many pictures. 

However, as Ed Wiley put it, “It wasn’t just a one night event, it was a 4-day weekend”.

On the Thursday night, the Limerick Hurlers and close group attended an event on Madison, Friday was the main event of the dinner/dance, on Saturday a barbecue was held at Pat Reidy’s and on Sunday, there was an outing to a New York Jets game. 

The New York/ Limerick club was established in 2019 and has held celebratory events for the Limerick teams victories since it’s inception.

This year's event has raised approximately €120,000 for Limerick GAA. 

Club Limerick/ New York is also set to make a donation of €5,000 to the the American Cancer Society in memory of Glenn Lee who sadly passed away earlier this year. 

To conclude, in the words of Ed Wiley, “hopefully we can make it 4 in a row”. 

And so say all of us!