Galway hurling star Conor Cooney leads large tribe of county players heading Stateside this summer

That comes on the back of a surprisingly early exit from the championship for the county hurlers with Henry Shefflin’s side failing to make it out of the Leinster round-robin stages after disappointing defeats to Wexford and Dublin.

Cooney, who led his native St Thomas’ to All-Ireland club hurling glory in January, is bound for New York to play with Clare but the 31-year-old should be back in plenty of time for the business end of the Galway SHC.

St Thomas’ bid for a record seventh Galway title in succession and the All-Star forward will be back in tow when it matters most while several of his county colleagues are also heading Stateside.

Galway goalkeeper Darach Fahy will be joined by his older brother Cianán, as well as the likes of Darren Morrissey, Liam Collins, Tiernan Killeen and Ronan Glennon in Galway Boston for the summer.

There will be plenty of familiar Kerry faces in the US also with 2022 All-Ireland SFC winner Micheál Burns, who left Jack O’Connor’s squad earlier this season due to a lack of game time, heading for Chicago.

Burns will link up with Wolfe Tones in the Windy City while former Kingdom team-mate Stefan Okunbor, who has had a torrid time with injury since returning home from a stint in the AFL, will play with Connemara Gaels in Boston.

Kerry dual star Luke Crowley is also on the move with the Glenflesk flyer switching allegiance to Cavan GFC in New York for the summer while Tipperary hurler Mark Kehoe is another who will be in the Big Apple.

Things didn’t go to plan for the Premier hurlers this season as they finished bottom of the Munster SHC round-robin without a win and Kehoe will now switch his focus to affairs with Tipperary in New York.

Waterford hurlers Darragh Lyons and Pádraig Fitzgerald are heading for San Francisco to link up with the Na Fianna club while Tyrone All-Ireland SFC winner Ronan McNamee is making the most of retirement.

McNamee hung up his boots at the end of last season after over a decade’s service to the Red Hand and the powerful defender will ply his trade in New York with Donegal for the summer.