Mayo footballers Diarmuid O'Connor and Conor Loftus have moved to the US for the summer after they were knocked out of the Championship by Kildare last weekend.
Kildare beat Mayo 0-21 to 0-19 last Saturday in Newbridge. O'Connor, who is from Ballintubber and Loftus, who plays for the Deel Rovers club, had their transfers confirmed at the last hour and will play with McBrides in Chicago.
Some 12 hour scramble but delighted these guys from @MayoGAA have come to Chicago, huge boost for football here. @BallintubberCLG and @DeelRoversGAA thanks for letting them travel and we’ll return them ready for championship https://t.co/aQjQYg5JU9
— McBrides CLG Chicago (@McBridesGaa) July 2, 2018
McBride's is the oldest of the current GAA clubs in Chicago. O'Connor is a student at DCU and had a superb game at the weekend despite the result while Loftus was at DIT. Thus, while a new rule was introduced which meant players who have been included on an Inter-County Senior Championship list submitted to the Referee in the current year’s Championship shall not be eligible to be accepted for Registration as a member of any Club in the USA, J1 visas are allowed.
In hurling, Tipperary hurlers Patrick Maher, Cathal Barrett and Ronan Maher have transferred to the Tipperary hurling club in New York. Tipperary had their Championship ended last month in the Munster round robin.
