One of the finest dual players Westmeath has ever produced, Brian McCabe is still going strong for the Fr Dalton's hurlers at the age of 46. Here, the Ballymore native reflects on his days as a county hurler and footballer with both Westmeath and New York. 

As a former Westmeath and New York dual star, Brian McCabe is one of a select band of GAA players who have represented two different counties in both hurling and football.
The Ballymore native was a regular on both Westmeath football and hurling teams before emigrating to the Big Apple in 1987. There, he continued his playing career before returning home in 2003 with his Killeigh, Co. Offaly-born wife Bernie and their three children Sean, Emily and Owen (their fourth child, Brian Og, was born in 2005). The McCabe's decision to rear their young family in Ireland mirrored that of Brian's parents who also returned from New York when he was just four.
"Not a lot of people know that I was born in New York. When Bernie and I decided to bring the kids home in 2003, it was like history repeating itself," he says.
GAA success came early for Brian when he lined out at left corner forward on the Carmelite College team which won the All-Ireland Colleges senior football title in 1981. The famous Moate nursery defeated St. Colman's of Claremorris by a point to claim the coveted Hogan Cup for a fourth and final time.
Unfortunately for Brian, his Westmeath career wasn't so successful. In October 1983, he made his senior debut for the footballers at wing forward against Donegal in the National League, just a few months after he had played in the Leinster minor championship. The following year, he was part of the Westmeath team that recorded a sensational victory over the then All-Ireland champions Dublin in the Centenary Cup before coming a cropper against Wexford in the next round.
Those were dark days for Westmeath football with first round championship exits the norm rather than the exception.
"I played four championship matches for Westmeath between 1984 and '87, and lost every one of them," McCabe ruefully reflects.
"We lost to Meath in '84, Carlow in '85, Wicklow in '86 and Dublin in '87. If the backdoor had been in place, I'm sure things would have been different and there might have been more interest among the players. It's mad to think that when Westmeath reached the All-Ireland quarter-final in 2001, they played eight games in one year. I played half that in four years!"
Because of the higher profile enjoyed by the hurlers at the time, Brian was better known for his small ball exploits. Usually lining out at centre back, he made his Leinster hurling championship debut as a substitute in a heavy defeat to Kilkenny in 1985. Westmeath regrouped the following year to win promotion to Division 1 of the National League - defeating Tipperary in doing so-before losing 0-15 to 3-8 to Kilkenny in the quarter-final after Mick Cosgrave had a late goal controversially disallowed.
Despite that disappointment, Westmeath entered the Leinster championship with high hopes but suffered a disastrous first round loss to Laois at Croke Park. Westmeath didn't look out of place in Division 1 in 1986/87, beating both Offaly and Galway, but were still relegated back to Division 2 after a playoff defeat to Wexford. They were soundly beaten again by Kilkenny in the 1987 Leinster championship, after which Brian and several of his team-mates left for New York.
"A bit like now, emigration was a scourge at the time and it hit the hurlers particularly hard," he reflects.
"It's a pity because we had a good team and were very close to making a breakthrough. There was a mass exodus of players to New York, including Willie Lowry and Pat Dalton from Castletown-Geoghegan, Micheal Daly from Brownstown and Mick Cosgrave and 'Jogger' Doyle from Lough Lene Gaels. If those lads had stayed at home, things might have turned out differently."
Despite being over 3,000 miles from Ireland, both Brian and Tommy 'Jogger' Doyle regularly returned home to line out for the hurlers. McCabe was especially committed, making the journey for league and championship games up until 1992 when he began playing with New York.
"It was a novelty at the start, but all the travelling got a bit tiring after a while. I remember one weekend when I arrived into Dublin airport on the Saturday morning, travelled on down to Kerry with the rest of the team on the Saturday night, played the game on the Sunday and flew back to New York on the Monday morning. When you were winning, it made things easier but it felt like a wasted journey when you lost.
"The likes of Kevin Lynch, Mattie Conaty and Mick Power on the Westmeath hurling board looked after me very well. They were prepared to go to whatever length it took to ensure that the team was successful."
One of the many games Brian returned home for was the 1991 All-Ireland 'B' final which saw Westmeath defeat Carlow in Croke Park before one of the famous Leinster football championship clashes between Meath and Dublin that summer. His last appearance for the hurlers was in an All-Ireland 'B' championship match against Roscommon in '92.
With so many of the Lake County's top hurlers domiciled in New York during that period, it was no coincidence that the Westmeath club was a major power in the Big Apple. They lost three New York SHC finals in-a-row between 1987 and '89 to Tipperary (twice) and Galway before finally making the breakthrough in 1990 when Galway were defeated in the final. They won back-to-back titles in 1992 and '93 at Tipp's expense and were victorious again in 1996 when Kilkenny were overcome after a replay.
Westmeath also captured the New York SFC title after a replay in '96 but Brian, who captained both teams, missed both replays with a hand injury. In total, McCabe won four New York SHC medals and two New York SFC medals, having won his first with Connemara Gaels in 1989 (Westmeath hadn't a football team at the time).
Brian was an integral member of the first New York team to play in the Connacht football championship against Mayo in 1999. Lining out at centre half back, he restricted current Mayo manager James Horan (a two-time All-Star) to two points from play. He also featured against Galway in 2000, having played against the Tribesmen hurlers four years earlier. That game is remembered for the fact that Brian, who had been best man at a friend's wedding in Mullingar on the same day, missed the first 20 minutes - despite travelling to the Athenry venue by helicopter!
In addition, Brian won an All-Ireland 'B' hurling championship medal with New York and also represented them in the Ulster championship for two years. On both occasions, the Exiles were defeated by Down.
After returning home to Ireland for good in 2003, Brian won an IFC medal with Ballymore and a JHC medal with Castletown-Geoghegan in that same year. He had previously won IFC and JHC honours with Ballymore and Fr Dalton's in 1984 and '86 respectively.
McCabe rejoined Fr Dalton's following their reformation as an adult club in 2008 and kept goal for them in last year's narrow IHC final defeat to Delvin. But the club's recent capture of the Division 3 title at Crookedwood's expense went some way towards atoning for that disappointment.
Brian has no plans yet to bring the curtain down on what has been a remarkable career on both sides of the Atlantic. He will surely be keeping on an eye on the progress of his two eldest boys Sean (12) and Owen (nine) who are part of the Fr Dalton's and Millmore Gaels (a combination of Ballymore and Milltown) underage set-ups.
"I've got great enjoyment from the GAA down the years and hopefully the kids will get the same kick out of it as I have," he concludes. Tweet

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