In these deeply worrying times Galwegians are contributing handsomely to a success story in Orlando. An Cheathrú Rua and Williamstown are represented in Orlando GAA’s impressive rise in recent months.
Jimmy Darba Ó Flatharta’s passion for Gaelic Games endures with solid foundations being established by the emerging club. Last Sunday Williamstown’s Amanda Finnegan, who runs Finnegan Dance Academy in Florida, sponsored a set of jerseys for Orlando GAA.
It was the next step on Orlando GAA’s journey with Gaelic Football and hurling sessions taking place every weekend. The Irish people in the area are beginning to connect according to Connemara man Jimmy Darba Ó Flatharta.
“When I took over the Orlando GAA Facebook page, I just started putting up a few posts - when you make the call as Gaeilge, people will answer.
“They came out of the woodwork to be honest. They come from the coastline of Daytona, we have one lad coming down from there about an hour’s drive away. Mostly they’d be in a place called Davenport which is just south of Disney, 10 minutes south of Disney. For some reason you have loads of Irish there.
“We have the Facebook page up to about 700 people and most of them are living locally here. It is fairly shocking the amount of Irish.
Packing the pub after training
“Now people are messaging me saying where are we are going after, things like that so it has become a nice little community. There is a place Fiddlers Green - that has a good Irish fry, sure enough we packed it the other day. We packed the whole pub after training.”
That sense of belonging counts with Liam Bergin, who captained Tipperary hurlers in 1983, and an uncle of former Galway footballer, Joe, carrying a significant influence according to Jimmy Darba Ó Flatharta.
“You had a few Bergin brothers on the Tipperary team in the 80s, Liam Bergin was the captain in 1983. He left to go to New York, he has the competitive juices. He is very good for the team. I’m trying to bring in a fun, but way more Irish style.
“Tomás Ó Griofa takes the training, he drives them hard. We speak Gaeilge full time, we’d only speak Irish to each other being from Carraroe. They hear a lot of that out there. The wives, children, and grandchildren started coming so it is like a big gathering over in Orlando. It is very impressive and we are very happy.”
Awareness has increased and people are beginning to enjoy and embrace the GAA in Orlando.
“They had about six lads messing around,” he recalls. “Another lad, who I brought over to work for me, Tomás Ó Griofa, we went down there and started getting a bit of a buzz. We had about 25 at training a few weeks ago and on Sunday we had 30 at training.”
Involving children and building for the future is now on the agenda. “We have a bit of youth, we don’t have underage teams, we wouldn’t have the numbers for that,” he responds.
“We have a lot of people, Irish folk who’d go home to send kids to the camps. What we are trying to do is make sure the kids can hold their own when they do go home. So that they can pick up a sliotar or pick up a football to do a few solos. We are just starting that now.
Momentum
“We have a bit of momentum. We had an AGM, we did put a youth officer in place. That is Tomas from Carraroe, he will take care of that. He is a very good man and he used to coach underage back home.”
More than a decade ago Jimmy Darba Ó Flatharta opted to leave Connemara for USA. “I’m from An Cheathrú Rua, I used to play football there, but I built fibreglass boats in Ros A Mhil for years,” he explains.
“Then I came over here and started building big Mickey Mouse statues and Star Wars statues for Disneyworld and Universal. I started my own company over here, that is about 13 years ago. I only got into the GAA really a while back when I came down with Orlando.”
An interesting work career, though, has been forged. “Really I came over to America for the land of opportunity originally,” he states.
“My mother was American so I had no problem getting citizenship. I came over, I was doing a bit of fibreglass here and there with boats and stuff. That was very old so then I started a small company myself doing sculpting because I was pretty good at doing the ealaion in school back home.
“I started sculpting and it took off from there. Right now we are currently working on building Mario Kart pieces for Universal Japan. We never slowed down during the Covid which was great.”
The manner in which the company has developed is a source of pride for the Galway native. “I have six working for me now,” he reveals.
Mickey Mouse and Stars Wars statues
“I used to have four other lads from Connemara on the visas, but they went back when the Covid kicked in. Everyone was nervous, but one of the lads stayed. I have one lad from Carraroe, Tomás.“
Everyday life in Orlando hasn’t altered too much according to Jimmy Darba ÓFlatharta, but the GAA club members all get tested regularly. “It is sad to say but Florida is a lot more lenient than the rest of the world at this moment,” he remarks.
“We went into lockdown for two weeks and that was it. We were back then like nothing happened. We all committed to getting tested every two weeks if we want to train and play the matches. “It was just an honour system, but everyone followed through as it is free to get tested. Everyone gets tested every two weeks, we bring our papers and then we go to war on the field.”
Amanda Finnegan’s support for Orlando GAA is highlighted by Ó Flatharta, who is grateful for the significant assistance. “Finnegan Academy of Irish Dance has been here for five years exactly,” he says.
“She is doing very well, she was dancing in a pub in Disneyland called Raglan Road. Next thing she got a green card and started a company. She has hundreds of students all over Florida, she is based in Orlando. I got talking to her and I said I’d get 30 jerseys like we would back home, one to 30 with two ‘keepers jerseys.
“She said she would love to sponsor them which is unreal. She plays Gaelic Football herself, but she has a broken hand at the moment. She has her boots from when she was playing back home. She played underage back home.”
The planning and plotting continues. A number of blitzes are edging closer with Orlando GAA set to host an invitational tournament in November. That is high on the priority list, but achieving a sense of adventure and fun on Sunday mornings is the chief objective. Bergin brings inter-county experience and knowledge. Others supply similar passion and a willingness to learn. This particular story is only starting to unfold.
