Since crossing over the Atlantic almost 14 years ago now, Raymond Brady has made all the right connections through the Aidan McAnespies club to help establish his carpentry business in Massachusetts and with the wheels of a world-wide recession now well in motion the Lavey native sees his adopted club tightening their grip as North America's senior champions. When Raymond Brady first jetted into Boston in the summer of 1995 looking to setup his own business, America's Walking City was already well known for its Irish heritage. Hundreds of upon hundreds of McDermotts and O'Reillys could be found working behind the bars or on the construction sites across the city. Brady was right at home in Massachusetts with the economy seemingly flying in his favour, but what a difference a decade can make. "You would go into a pub on a Friday evening after you'd finished work for the week and every one of them would be just packed," he explained. "Now on the street beside me there are five Irish bars closed because of the lack of business." During the 1990's US cities such as Boston, New York, Chicago and San Francisco were places millions of Irish people called home, but with the turn of the century, for one reason or another, those numbers began to track back to their native land and it seems in many ways that Australia has become the new America for this generation in Ireland. The thought of leaving his snug home in Boston has never really crossed Brady's mind, but, at the risk of coming off a little bit yankeeish, is that because he's giving something back to the community in which he lives? Within five months of touching down on US soil, Brady and the group he made the six-hour plane journey with became involved with the Aidan McAnespies GAA club, in the pipeline for around 12 months before Brady got involved, which has now grown to become the biggest of the 23 clubs in the city. Simply known as 'McAnespies', the club has become one of the most prominent in Boston by virtue of their great players and their skill on the football field. In 1998, incidentally when Tyrone great Peter Canavan transferred to the club for a summer, the three-year-old club won the Boston Senior Football Championship and went on to capture the much coveted North American SFC crown. While Brady has self-confessed that he isn't the greatest footballer he has togged out for McAnespies in the forwards in past years, but his primary role with the club is an important one as secretary. Along with a momentous amount of duties week in, week out, Brady combines his role with McAnespies with his registar position on the Boston GAA Board and registers and helps secure the player transfers for the all clubs in the city. Whether it be locals in Boston looking for a kick about rest or the likes of Peter Canavan wanting to display his talents on another continent. Either way it's a crucial role that Brady has landed himself in and he asks for nothing in return. Along with having Canavan to boast as one of the club's past players, McAnespies have solid connections with Tyrone GAA. Not only do the teams play in the same red and white trim jerseys as the Red Hand County, but the club's name itself was named after the young Aughnacloy footballer who, in 1988, walked to see his Gaelic football team play a match on a field close to the border before being shot, allegedly by accident, by a British soldier at a checkpoint, piercing the man in the back and killing him. Seven years later and the then 23-year-old's memory still lives on, albeit in Boston, but the McAnespies club has come a long way since 1995 with a senior team as well as a Junior A and B team well-established, and Brady believes things are about to get better for the club. "There's going to be more and more young players wanting to come out here looking for work and football for the summer with the way things are and while there are no major jobs starting really, it's still just steady," said Brady. "During the summer you could have one lad plastering one day and painting another, but we just want to fill them in. You could have two or three lads coming over and they could get by on three days a week and then there are others that aren't too fond of the work at all," he added. Cavan's most famed incident of footballers heading off to play ball out west for the summer was the infamous 'Chicago Three', when county seniors Paul Brady, Martin Cahill and Sean Johnston all picked up and left in mid-All-Ireland Championship to pursue playing with the St Brendan's club of Chicago for three months. While their choice left many tempers flaring in the Breffni camp, the trio's move proved a huge success on their own part as they helped the Chicago outfit to the 2007 North American SFC crown, and while Brady yearns to lure good club players and students each summer, the Lavey man also concedes that some are hard to replace once they're gone. "I think it works both ways," said Brady. "Here you don't have too many players still waiting to develop on the senior team. On one hand you have developed players coming in, but at the same time players go as well and it can be tough to replace them but we've managed alright up until now." There can be no arguments to that end. Another Boston title in the bag last year was followed by the club's senior team getting their hands back on the North America SFC by beating Sean Treacy's of San Francisco in the decider (2-15 to 1-7) to underline their status as the United States' top Gaelic football side. Along with boasting top facilities in the club, McAnespies seem to be improving with each year and will look to regain the North America SFC in 2009. "Boston has the biggest amount of clubs with 23 and the standard of football is very high here," Brady explained. "With likes of Chicago teams and St Brendan's, the standard has slipped a way down since Brady and Johnston were there. At the moment, McAnespies would be up there as one of the best, if not the best team in the country at this stage." The standard was something Raymond's two younger brothers, Mark and Kevin, quickly adapted to when they were over to pay a visit. Kevin, who lead Lavey to the Under 21 Division Two championship two years ago with a late late show against Ballinagh at Breffni Park and is now arguably the senior team's main score-getter, played with the McAnespies for a stint during the summer of 2005 and progressed well, rubbing shoulders with inter-county footballers on the team. While Mark was out just last March and played for six weeks with the club before returning home where his abilities were wanted by Terry Hyland to get Lavey off to a good start in the ACFL Division One. Through his brothers, Raymond keeps very much up to date with the going-ons of his native club and believes that the right stuff is there for the New Inns side to complete full senior status and bag the intermediate championship in 2009. "I think the youth is very strong in the club and the seniors done well to stay in Division One last year but it's about pushing on for that intermediate now," said Brady. "All the Jordans and Smiths are all good footballers and they've had a few fellas like Sean Maguire who've had a run with the county before. Maybe the problem up until now has been that a lot of people tend to put them (the players) under a bit too much pressure for the start of the championship each year. "I think, going by what I've read and heard, that Lavey are a real second-half team and sometimes they leave themselves with a mountain to climb in games." One thing's for certain. Whether it's the daunting challenge of a new life in Boston or trying to keep your carpentry business on the up and up in testing times, no mountain's too high for Raymond Brady. Tweet

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