NY Rose Róisín to be among Limerick fans at Croker

NEWLY-CROWNED New York Rose, Róisín Wiley, and her family have two big reasons to return to Ireland.

Róisín will return with her family for the Rose of Tralee festival in August but, before then, there is the not so small matter of attending the All-Ireland final on Sunday.

Róisín’s parents, Kilmallock native Eddie Wiley along with his wife Majella, originally from Templeglantine, will jet into Ireland with Róisín to support Limerick as they take on Kilkenny.

“Last year, John went and Róisín stayed at home to mind our dog Roxy and this year Róisín gets to go. He will be OK as we will all travel as a family to support Róisín in Tralee and he will get to come then,” Eddie explained.

Eddie and Majella moved to New York in their early 20s and Eddie has been successfully running Club Limerick NY for five years.

The couple have never failed to immerse their children in Irish traditions despite them growing up in New York. From Tayto crisps to bacon and cabbage, they embrace it all!

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“They are big fans of the hurling and we all watch it as a family and I try to travel back for big games such as this. Róisín’s favourite player would be Seán Finn and John’s favourite player would be Gearóid Hegarty,” smiled Eddie.

On the number of Limerick finals Eddie has traveled to, he said; “I have traveled to all the Limerick finals. I have been back in 1994, 1996, 2007 and all the other ones since I came to New York.”

So how does he think Sunday will pan out? “I am very confident Limerick will win, they seem to be peaking at the right time and if we can get our captain Mr Hannon back we will be doing great but, overall, they will be fantastic.”

Club Limerick NY has been a huge success and raises “a lot of money” for the GAA back home in Limerick and in NYC.

One of their big fundraisers is a dinner dance which sees members of the senior team fly over to the Big Apple. “We will have a big dance in New York with the team and county officials in November and it is all booked up. Last year we had about 60 people come out and hopefully this year we will have something to celebrate.”