Connacht Council chairman Paddy Naughton has defended the cost of staging the FBD League final in New York. Galway fly out to the Big Apple today for Sunday's final against the Exiles at Gaelic Park. It's believed the overall cost of the trip is close on EUR60,000, and while the Connacht Council, the New York board and sponsors FBD are making a contribution of EUR25,000, the Galway county board have to foot the rest of the bill. But Naughton believes staging the final in Gaelic Park serves a vital purpose for the Irish in New York. "There is a massive appetite for this type of game among the Irish public in New York," he said. "Unfortunately, the majority of these people are no longer in a position to come back to Ireland for a holiday or visit their families and friends because of the tight immigration restrictions. "So I feel that as GAA people we owe it to them to bring out the winners of our FBC League to play New York over there." New York board secretary Liam Bermingham is fully supportive of Naughton. "I don't think you can put a price on the value of what this game does for the Irish community here in New York. "Furthermore, we owe it to our people here to try to have a top team play a competitive match against the best we can field. "Seamus Smith of Cavan is our team manager and he has been putting in massive work to have a team fit and ready to do New York justice on Sunday." Tweet

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