Mayo's real championship now begins

From midweek the Mayo faithful began to trickle into Manhattan. The distinctive West of Ireland accent could be heard around corners. Red and green gear could be observed crossing busy intersections. The Mayo mafia were on their way.

And as the week progressed, that trickle developed into a flood. A couple of humvees was the only thing stopping an emergency UN meeting being called to denounce the full-scale invasion. Though only a couple of thousand Mayo supporters descended on the city of eight million people over the course of a few days, they still managed to cause a stir. As only Mayo folk can. By the time the weekend finally arrived, Mayo jerseys were wandering around all over the city like an ant infestation.

Had the Naked Cowboy introduced a few Saw Doctors ditties into his repertoire, he would've been retirement-bound with his earnings by Saturday night. For the Mayo fanbase, despite having travelled halfway across the world, still sought out the home comforts in any way they could. At 4am in the early hours of Saturday morning, a beery version of the N17 rang out across Times Square, which was quickly followed by Amhrán na bhFiann. One of the most famous intersections in the world had been struck by Mayo fever.

The invasion of Manhattan was short-lived though, and by lunchtime on Sunday afternoon the red and green battalion had migrated north to the Kingsbridge neighbourhood of the Bronx as New York's Irish community and what seemed like half of Mayo's population wedged their way into Gaelic Park.

The home of New York GAA, nestled off the southern edge of Van Cortlandt Park, isn't the midseason holiday it once was for teams that make the transatlantic trip. Victory over Leitrim in last year's championship proved that the Exiles are a side with ambition, keen to solidify their status as a legitimate participant in the All-Ireland championship. And though Mayo were heavy favourites heading for the Bronx on Sunday, Kevin McStay will have known that the Americans can be somewhat stubborn at times. In the lead-up to the game, he didn't say away from the fact that his Roscommon side just squeezed past them in to win by a single point in 2016.

"I’ve gone through the therapy and out the other end," he said ahead of the game. "They were super on the day and Roscommon weren’t as good as wanted to be. And it got very, very tight.” So, New York were clearly never going to just roll over at the sight of a Division One side coming to town. And last year's victory gave New York an immensity of confidence as they targeted another scalp.

In the end, Mayo emerged with a 15-point win and proceeded into the next round of the Connacht championship - as was expected of them. But they were forced to work for the victory throughout the entire 70 minutes. New York arrived into a game by summoning the spirit of John Kerry O'Donnell, regarded by many as the founding father of New York GAA. O'Donnell was known as a belligerent force, continuously locking horns with GAA HQ throughout the 20th century as the game developed along the east coast of the United States. He had as many enemies as friends and seemed to get kicks out of finding ways to quarrel with the authorities back home. On one occasion, he was responsible for stealing the Sam Maguire Cup while it was on display in the New York. At the time he was in a feud with a Roscommon-born New York GAA official and therefore decided to pin the crime on a Roscommon supporter he claimed was bitter following their All-Ireland final defeat. When the cup finally resurfaced it was defaced with pro-Roscommon and pro-IRA graffiti. O'Donnell was as stubborn as they come. And on Sunday afternoon, so were the home side. This was far from an exhibition game and they let Mayo know it.

They welcomed their visitors to Gaelic Park with a series of bone-crunching tackles and weren't afraid of getting up close and personal from the outset. But McStay's side still managed to leverage their experience and eke out a lead that kept creeping upwards, despite the bite that New York brought to the encounter.

While 2-21 is a solid return for Mayo, there was once again an overreliance on Ryan O'Donoghue in the full-forward line with the Belmullet sharpshooter scoring 1-13 out of Mayo's total tally. It remains a worry for Mayo's management team with scores from other forwards proving as elusive as Fabergé eggs over the last couple of months.

While the game was essentially over by half-time, New York kept driving at Mayo when they could. The perseverance was rewarded when Frank O'Reilly blasted a ball to the back of Colm Reape's net. The Mayo faithful cheered almost as much as the home side's fanbase, perhaps recognising that Mayo's double digit lead had been somewhat flattering. But when Jamie Boyle scored New York's second goal of the day a few minutes later, the Mayo fans' reaction was a little more subdued. A leaky defence is certainly a cause for concern going forward.

There was an immediate response from the visitors, with Paul Towey slicing through the throat of New York's before being taken down in the square. Cillian O'Connor stepped up to take the penalty and added another maximum to his peerless record.

From there the game soon began to boil over, highlighting yet again the pride with which New York are playing these days. And though the result had been settled in the first half, the game remained entertaining throughout. Even the rail workers took time out of their days to soak in the biggest day in the New York GAA calendar from the rail platforms above the grounds.

All in all, a 15-point win is not something to scoff at. Mayo returned home from New York without any new injuries and they're still in the Connacht championship. That's a solid weekend of work by any metric.

But the real work only starts now.