To many in New York GAA, Tony McKenna is Mr Monaghan. We tracked down the Truagh native who, after 35 years in the United States, says he's finally hanging up his football boots.  

He left Monaghan, but Monaghan never left him. Tony McKenna emigrated from Truagh for New York in 1975, bound for a new life in the United States. At the time, he says, it was an adventure more than a necessity. "There wasn't great work out here in the mid-70s either, we're going through the same type of thing now as we were going through at that time. I had work at home - I worked in the Four Seasons for the great Alan Clancy for a few years. I also worked in the Three-Star Inn in 'Blayney.
"I had a sister Frances, in New York at the time, so I came out to her for a while, but in '76 her and her fiancé, Dermot Treanor, went back to Ireland to get married and they never came back. I just loved it when I came here because I met some lifelong friends such as, Kevin Keegan (Armagh), Gabriel Carbin (Scotstown), Seamus Dooley (Kilanny), Mark McGuigan (Clontribet), Sean Jones (Fermanagh), Eamonn Deane (Leitrim), and I've always been part of the Monaghan football club since I came out. I played, managed and watched the Monaghan club here for the last 35 years."
During that time, Tony spent 14 years as a player and another 11 as a manager, including four years in the late '80s as player-manager. When his direct involvement in on-field matters with the Monaghan club came to an end, he still remained involved in various capacities. "I held many positions, treasurer, secretary, delegate, etc., for a number of years and I still sponsor them with jerseys every year and help with tables at the dinner dance," he says. "I don't do a lot of the day-to-day or week-to-week stuff any more. I've handed the torch over to the younger lads over the last few years."
Those "younger lads" have carried on the torch with gusto, and 2010 marked a return to competitiveness with a team which reached the final of the New York junior football championship - an occasion which gave Tony great satisfaction. Unfortunately he missed the game as it coincided with his trip back for the All-Ireland final." "We were pipped in the final by one point. I haven't missed an All-Ireland final in probably 20 years. And if my own club, Gaeil Triucha, made it to the county finals again I'd make sure to get home for that too!"
Having handed over the responsibilities of keeping the Monaghan club afloat to the next generation, Tony could be forgiven for taking more of a backseat and concentrating on family and work.
He likes to maintain a hands-on approach in his Bronx based company, Woodcraft Floors, Inc., which is successful in its field of apartment refurbishments across New York, particularly Manhattan.
He is also looking forward to the next phase of life in Long Island alongside his wife Madeleine, with the couple's only son, Christopher, now 21 and ready to embark on his own adventure. But taking the easy road would not be in Tony's nature. After all, when he brought down the curtain on his playing days with the Monaghan club 20-odd years ago, it didn't mark the end of his career on the New York GAA fields. Now, though, he is adamant that his playing days have come to an end - finally.
"There was an over-40s team for a good number of years," he says. "It used to be the referees against the over-40s.  We ran out of referees and then we ran out of over-40s so it died for a few years. We started it back up a few years ago, we call ourselves the Bronx Bombers and we play a team from Rockland in a best of three game series every year. This year we played the first game in Rockland, which they won, the second game in Paddy's Field in the Bronx, which we won, and then the decider took place in Gaelic Park on the 14th of November, and we beat them. I played this year, corner forward, but I'm retired after this. I said once I get to 55 I'm going to play no more. But I loved it, absolutely loved it. But come Monday morning I didn't love it. Too sore and stiff. It's funny, I met a young fella from Galway out here a while back, he was probably about 21 or 22 years of age, and I asked him if he played football. He said, 'I used to!' I thought that was funny."
As well as his annual trips home for the All-Ireland football final, Tony makes the pilgrimage to Clones every July for the Ulster showpiece. For all the promise of Seamus McEnaney's six summers in charge, Monaghan have been stuck on the unlucky 13 provincial titles for more than 20 years now. Tony, though, has nothing but praise for the now former county manager. "He did an excellent job and gave us a lot of good memories over his term," he says. "Banty lives, eats and breathes football. He finds it hard to talk about anything else. I've met him a few times, and if you change the conversation, within a few minutes he'll be back talking about football!
"It's a pity he didn't get the silverware he deserved with Monaghan because his heart was in it, 120 per cent in the job. He got unlucky in Ulster because he landed at the same time as the great Tyrone and Armagh teams came along. If you look back ten or 11 years ago, Ulster was very open - Derry, Donegal, Monaghan, Cavan, everyone was on the same level playing field, but Armagh took it over for a number of years and Tyrone are the top dogs now. I'd say Meath have got lucky with Banty. He'll give it everything."
A future without Banty should not be all doom and gloom, says Tony, who has given the seal of approval to the returning Eamonn McEneaney, one of many great inter-county players turned out with the Monaghan club in New York in the 80s. "A lot will depend on whether the senior players stay or go," says Tony. "Gary McQuaid, Damien Freeman, Vinny Corey, etc. but I think it's a win-win situation for Eamonn if he can blood in a few new players from the minor and under 21 teams. Any successful team has to keep adding. You have to add a player or two every year. If you look at the successful teams that have won Ulsters and All-Irelands they have added every year. And if Eamonn does that I think he'll do alright."
Although Monaghan football takes up plenty of his interest, Tony also keeps a close eye on the fortunes of his alma mater in Truagh, Gaeil Truiach, the club with which he played at underage level before departing for New York all those years ago and which hails from a part of the world known to local historians as "McKenna country".
"We're a small rural club, the furthest north in Monaghan - the next club is Aughnacloy in Tyrone to our north and Emyvale to our south, who are fierce rivals," says Tony. "We never got over the hurdle to win the senior championship but we had some great players down the years - such as Kevin Treanor (Paddy), Hugo McKenna (brother), Francie Treanor (Becon), Patsy Donahoe, Jimmy McKenna (Peader), Sean McMeel (Jack), Mac McKenna (RIP), just to name a few.
"Competition was intense in the 70's and 80's between Scotstown, Emyvale and Tyholland but we still managed to win a few championships in that era.  There'd be a fair bit of rivalry for the hour of a game against them, but after that we'd have a beer and a bit of craic with the likes of Gerry and Jack McCarville, Fergus Caulfield (Scotstown), the Donnelly brothers (Tyholland), Raymond Kelly, Hardy McMeel (Emyvale), just to name a few. I try to go into Jack's bar and have the craic when I'm home, but the drink is very dear!"
Home. Long Island. New York. Truagh. Monaghan. Clones. Croke Park. For Tony McKenna, home is all those places. Up Truagh! Tweet

Most Read Stories