THE TRAVELLING PARTY for the 2012 Opel GAA GPA All-Stars Football Tour, which departs for New York this Wednesday, has been finalised with 12 players added as replacements.
34 players, featuring members of the 2011 and 2012 All-Star teams, will travel to New York with an exhibition game set to place next Saturday in Gaelic Park in The Bronx at 6pm local time.
The necessity for replacements was created by several factors. Three players (Karl Lacey, Neil McGee and Paul Flynn) have collected All-Star awards for the past two years, players like Mayo’s Andy Moran and Dublin’s Alan Brogan will be unable to feature in the game due to long-term injuries while five award winners are unable to travel.
From the 2011 All-Star team, Dublin’s Stephen Cluxton and Kerry’s Colm Cooper will not be involved. Cooper will be in action next Sunday for his club Dr Crokes in the Munster club semi-final. From this year’s All-Star side, the Donegal pair of Frank McGlynn and Colm McFadden along with Mayo defender Ger Cafferkey, are also not set to travel.
The players called up for the tour include Cork trio Eoin Cadogan, Paul Kerrigan and Donncha O’Connor, Kerry’s Tomás Ó Sé, Mayo duo Kevin McLoughlin and Cillian O’Connor and Dublin full-back Rory O’Carroll.
Next Saturday’s exhibition game will be refereed by Maurice Deegan of Laois with last year’s All-Ireland winning boss Pat Gilroy and this year’s All-Ireland winning manager Jim McGuinness at the helm of the respective All-Star teams.
The game will be preceded by a match between FDNY and NYPD at 4pm with the touring party arriving back to Ireland on Tuesday November 20th.
Double All Stars - (2011 & 2012): Karl Lacey (Donegal), Neil McGee (Donegal) and Paul Flynn (Dublin).2011 Travelling All Stars: Paul Flynn (Dublin), Marc Ó Sé (Kerry), Bryan Sheehan (Kerry), Karl Lacey (Donegal), Alan Brogan (Dublin), Kevin Cassidy (Donegal), Andy Moran (Mayo), Bernard Brogan (Dublin), Kevin Nolan (Dublin), Michael Darragh MacAuley (Dublin), Darran O’ Sullivan (Kerry), Neil McGee (Donegal), Michael Foley (Kildare).
2012 Travelling All Stars: Alan Dillon (Mayo), Aidan Walsh (Cork), Lee Keegan (Mayo), Colm O’ Neill (Cork), Neil Gallagher (Donegal), Mark McHugh (Donegal), Michael Murphy (Donegal), Paul Durcan (Donegal), Keith Higgins (Mayo).
Replacements: Eoin Cadogan (Cork), Ben Brosnan (Wexford), Tomás Ó Sé (Kerry), Brendan Kealy (Kerry), Cillian O’Connor (Mayo), Kevin McLoughlin (Mayo), Anthony Thompson (Donegal), Rory O’Carroll (Dublin), Joe McMahon (Tyrone), Kevin McManamon (Dublin), Donnacha O’Connor (Cork), Paul Kerrigan (Cork).
