The only non-Irish county in the Gaelic Athletic Association’s (GAA) National Football League are confident they can upset the apple cart ahead of the new season.
The London senior football side, who play their games at McGovern Park in South Ruislip, are aiming to improve on their seventh-place finish in Allianz National Football League Division Four last year.
Manager Michael Maher, who has been in charge of the team since October 2019, is realistic with his aims for the campaign, but still has a sense of optimism ahead of the season-opener away to Wexford.
Maher said: “We approach every game to try and win it but we know there’s a different picture to deal with than other counties.
“I think there’s going to be some surprise results, I think everyone will beat each other at different times in the leagues especially.
“For us, we take every game as a standalone fixture and we go out to win every game.
“It’s definitely going to be an interesting league.”
London are in a unique position in that they are the only team not based on the island of Ireland to compete in the National Football league.
Maher was keen to stress the issues that come with this along with the issues the clubs which make up the London county board of the GAA have when it comes to playing facilities.
He said: “It’s just travel and facilities.
“The majority of clubs here don’t have their own ground, the majority would ground share like my own club for example, we ground share with a rugby club, we don’t own the land.
“Travel, as a county team competing in county competitions, every second game involves flights and hotels, that wouldn’t be the case for teams on the island of Ireland.”
Aside from the National Football League, London will also be competing in the Connacht Senior Football Championship from the spring, from which the winner and runner-up progress to the group stage of the prestigious All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of London’s entrance into the Connacht provincial competition and comes just four years after the county celebrated another significant milestone.
Maher said: “London celebrated their 125 anniversary as a whole [in 2021] and I guess that’s the key thing.
“The club scene is the root and branch of absolutely everything that goes on within the GAA, the county team is obviously an added addition.”
London aren’t the only overseas county competing in the Connacht Senior Football Championship, with New York also competing with alongside the teams from north-west province.
Galway and Mayo are the two big hitters in Connacht with 50 and 48 titles respectively, while London have never won the competiton but did make the provincial final in 2013.
In order to represent London in inter-county competitions, players must either be born in the city or play for a London GAA club.
Historically the makeup of the county side would be Irish-born, although Maher explained how things are changing with more and more London-born players forming the basis of the side.
Maher said: “Kids are now coming into adult level games which is putting the clubs in a sustainable position for the future, rather than relying on lads from Ireland coming over all the time.
“We’ve got six London born players on our senior team and then we’ve got a London junior team which are all London-born.”
The London senior football team kick off the 2025 National Football League season away to Wexford on Saturday 25 January before their first home match of the campaign against Wicklow on 2 February.
Picture credits: The London County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association
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