An Nuacht

The Newsletter of

The Order of the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh - Essex Division

A 501c(3) Non Profit Organization

May 7, 2026

The Irish Are Back in Force: 24th Annual Irish Sports Expo Set for June 14

The Order of the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh, Essex County, proudly invites you to one of the great traditions of the Irish-American calendar—the 24th Annual Irish Sports Expo, taking place on Sunday, June 14 at the Kelly Athletic Center in West Orange, NJ.

Under the leadership of Co-Chairmen Ollie Browne and Marty Meehan, this year’s Expo promises a full day of sport, culture, music, and community spirit that continues to define what makes the Shillelagh Club such a special place.

The day begins at 11:00 AM with the Annual Memorial Mass, followed by an Irish Language class—a fitting tribute to heritage and tradition. From there, the grounds come alive with action, starting with a Gaelic Football Exhibition at 12:30 PM featuring the Essex Shillelaghs GAA, showcasing the skill and passion of our local players.

At 2:00 PM, the intensity builds with the Rugby Championship as Montclair RFC takes on Union County Rugby in what promises to be a hard-fought contest. Then, at 3:30 PM, the headline event—the Hurling Championship Final—brings together Tipperary NY and Allentown Hibernians in a thrilling clash of one of Ireland’s oldest and fastest sports.

Off the field, the Expo offers something for everyone. Live music from The Fermenters and The Will O’Connor Band will keep the atmosphere lively throughout the day, while families can enjoy youth sports activities, a kid’s bounce house, and plenty of Irish “craic.”

Admission is $25 per person, which includes food, beer, and entertainment. Youth aged 12–20 are just $10, children under 12 are free, and a family rate of $50 makes it an easy day out for all.

Mark your calendar, bring your friends, and join us on June 14 for a day that captures the spirit of the Shillelaghs.

Sláinte!

For two decades, one man has quietly (and sometimes not so quietly!) led one of the most meaningful traditions at the Shillelagh Club. This July, we celebrate not only another year of giving—but the remarkable legacy of Past President Kevin Kinney as he hosts his 20th and final “Brave the Shave” fundraiser in support of St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

What began as a simple act of solidarity—shaving heads to stand with children battling cancer—has grown into a signature event at the Club and a cornerstone of our charitable mission. Over the past 20 years, Kevin’s leadership has inspired more than 900 participants to take the razor and helped raise over $1.35 million for life-saving childhood cancer research. That kind of impact doesn’t happen by accident—it happens because of commitment, heart, and a deep sense of community.

This year’s event, taking place on July 11, 2026 at the Shillelagh Club, will be the final chapter of Kevin’s extraordinary run. It promises to be both a celebration and a sendoff—an opportunity for members, families, and friends to come together one last time under Kevin’s stewardship to make a difference where it matters most.

We encourage everyone to get involved—whether by volunteering, donating, or stepping up to shave. Every contribution honors not only the brave children and families supported by St. Baldrick’s, but also the enduring spirit of service that Kevin Kinney has embodied for the past 20 years.

Kevin, on behalf of the entire Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh community: thank you. Your leadership, generosity, and unwavering dedication have left a lasting mark on this Club and on countless lives far beyond it.

Let’s make this final year one to remember. Sláinte to Kevin—and here’s to finishing strong.

Shi-Ladies and Men's Registrations Now Open

The Essex Shillelaghs GAA is pleased to announce that registration for both the Men’s and Shi-Ladies Gaelic Football programs is now open for the 2026 season.

Building on the momentum of recent seasons, both programs will offer a balanced mix of recreational and competitive Gaelic football, welcoming new players and returning athletes alike.

What to Expect in 2026

Men

• Spring Pub League play in West Orange, emphasizing skill development, fitness, and camaraderie
• Weekly combined training sessions beginning in March
• 7-on-7 recreational match play in the spring
• Potential summer and fall play, based on participation and interest

Annual Fee:

• West Orange Residents: $50
• Non-Residents: $60

Women (Shi-Ladies)

• Indoor Winter Training now through the end of February
• Outdoor training session beginning in March
• Recreational play in West Orange, emphasizing skill development, fitness, and camaraderie. Some 7-on-7 recreational match play in the spring
• Junior B competition in Spring & Fall with the LGFA in Queens, NY

Annual Fee:

• West Orange Residents: $80
• Non-Residents: $90

Both programs are proudly offered in association with the West Orange Department of Recreation, continuing a strong partnership that supports the growth of Gaelic games in our community.

Whether you’re new to Gaelic football, returning after time away, or looking to compete at a higher level, the Essex Shillelaghs Men’s and Shi-Ladies programs offer a welcoming pathway to get involved, stay active, and be part of a great club culture.

Additional details, including training schedules and registration links, will be shared as January 15 approaches. We look forward to seeing both familiar and new faces on the pitch this spring.

Band Mech Now Available!

The Band has partnered with Cole Creates to launch our own Essex Shillelagh Pipe Band Merch Site!!  Please consider purchasing something for your summer wardrobe, and 

Support the band while looking Good! Perhaps a Hat, or a Koozie for your cold beverage on the beach this summer. Look cool while beating the heat!  

Pipe & Drums Swag at Cole Creates

June 7, 2026, 12-6pm - 2026 NJ Irish Festival, Monmouth Park

June 12, 2026, 1:30pm Shotgun, V4V (FSOS Old Bridge) Golf Outing, Concordia Golf Club, Monroe Township, $150 per golfer

Editor's Note: Ancient Ireland & History Roundtable is presented by the History Committee of the FSOS and hopes to bring to life the richness of Irish history with curated and authored articles by members. Submissions for publication are encouraged, subject to Editorial staff approval.

A Boatload of I.R.A. Tommy Guns in Hoboken 

by Mark Bulik

On one side stood the legal representatives of the Irish Republican Army and the Hoboken Police Department. On the other side stood a federal prosecutor representing the U.S. Customs Service. And in the middle, in a federal courtroom in Newark, sat a United States District Court judge trying to figure out what to do with nearly 500 Thompson machine guns – enough firepower to change the course of the Irish War for Independence.

The Customs Service had confiscated the guns in Hoboken from the ship that was supposed to run them to Ireland, the S.S. East Side. Then the heavily Irish American Hoboken Police Department, which sympathized with the I.R.A., confiscated the guns from the Customs Service. Now the matter was before Judge Charles F. Lynch in Newark.

In 1921, as the IRA battled British forces from the rolling countryside of County Cork to the hills of Donegal, guns were in desperately short supply. Michael Collins, who was leading Ireland’s fight for independence, found a solution in the pages of Popular Mechanics – a brand new weapon called the tommy-gun.

John T. Thompson, a retired U.S. Army general, invented the submachine gun for use in the trenches of the Western Front, but World War I ended before the first prototypes were ready. Thompson’s startup firearms firm faced bankruptcy if it didn’t find a big customer, fast. Enter the Irish Republican Army.

Collins’ intermediaries ordered 500 guns, which were duly shipped and stored in burlap bags in the basement of a Catholic church in Manhattan run by sympathetic Carmelite priests. From there they were transferred by a motor launch to the East Side under cover of darkness. Some of the East Side’s crew had been replaced by reliable Irishmen who could be counted on to say nothing.

But the ship was docked at a U.S. Army shipping terminal, and the military officer in charge of the docks saw the whole thing. The operation was also witnessed by officers of the nearby S.S. McKeesport and some crewmen who weren't privy to the plot. Soon a couple of watchmen came on board, asking inconvenient questions about what came over the side from the launch. The Irish crewmen gave them $10 to go away.

The cover story was that the ship would carry a charity load of 5,000 five thousand tons of American coal to help heat the homes of those in Dublin left destitute by the struggle for independence. Beneath the coal there’d be enough weapons to warm the hearts of an army of revolutionaries.

The gunrunners couldn’t get the weapons into the cargo holds while crew members who weren’t in on the plot were milling about, so they stashed the guns in the ship’s refrigeration room, and they left a few burlap bags outside. A curious assistant chef slit open one of the bags, probably expecting potatoes, and got the surprise of his life when he spotted the muzzle of a machine gun. The next thing anyone knew, he was screaming about guns and that the whole crew was going to be murdered.

That got the watchmen on board right quick.

The assistant cook took them down to the refrigeration room, and showed him the guns. “They opened three sacks to see what was in them,” said James Curley, an assistant engineer. He bought the watchmen off with another $10 bribe, which allowed the guns to be moved from the refrigeration room to the No. 4 hold. But the rivets were beginning to pop on this rust bucket of a plot—too many people had seen too much.

The next day the U.S. Customs Service showed up and searched the ship. They didn’t find anything, but they came back the next day. And the next. On Wednesday, June 15, they found what they were looking for. They confiscated 500 tommy-guns that had been stashed in No. 4 Hold.

The gunrunners weren’t about to throw in the towel just because they’d been caught red-handed. They called the Hoboken police chief, Patrick Hayes, who assured them that “he was as anxious as they were that the stuff might go over safely to Ireland.” Then they reached out to Eugene F. Kinkead, a three-term Democratic congressman, who’d been sheriff of Hudson County and a major in Army intelligence in World War I. A big supporter of Irish independence, he helped brainstorm a response – they’d claim it was a stolen property case, According to this story, someone had stolen those guns from their rightful owner (Frank Williams, the I.R.A.’s front man) and put them aboard the East Side. That allowed the Hoboken police to seize the guns from the Customs Service so they could be returned to Williams.

The holding cells at police headquarters there were soon overflowing with the weapons, and the Customs men took the matter to Judge Lynch and the federal district court in Newark. Frank Williams had an interesting choice of attorney for the hearing—John J. Fallon, the counsel for the City of Hoboken. The city’s Irish American governing elite was doing everything it could to help the IRA, which helps explain how 50 fifty tommy-guns managed to sprout legs and walk out the back door of Hoboken Police headquarters. Somehow, they made it back into the hands of the gunrunners.

Another lawyer for Williams, Thomas J. O’Neill, added some comedy when reporters asked him about his client’s thick Irish accent. “An Irish brogue?” he responded. “Surely you mean a Canadian accent.”



Judge Lynch settled matters by awarding custody of the guns to the Customs Service, but that wasn’t the end of the matter. When a rising star in the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation — 26-year-old John Edgar Hoover — started sniffing around, Williams fled the country. But he appointed an agent who went to court and recovered the guns in November of 1925. Apparently there was nothing illegal about buying 500 five hundred machine guns for an overseas revolution. Most of the tommy-guns eventually made it to Ireland, where some of them went into the 1970s during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Eternal Heart, Choctaw Nation, Tuskahoma, Oklahoma

The holding cells at police headquarters there were soon overflowing with the weapons, and the Customs men took the matter to Judge Lynch and the federal district court in Newark. Frank Williams had an interesting choice of attorney for the hearing—John J. Fallon, the counsel for the City of Hoboken. The city’s Irish American governing elite was doing everything it could to help the IRA, which helps explain how 50 fifty tommy-guns managed to sprout legs and walk out the back door of Hoboken Police headquarters. Somehow, they made it back into the hands of the gunrunners.

Another lawyer for Williams, Thomas J. O’Neill, added some comedy when reporters asked him about his client’s thick Irish accent. “An Irish brogue?” he responded. “Surely you mean a Canadian accent.”



Judge Lynch settled matters by awarding custody of the guns to the Customs Service, but that wasn’t the end of the matter. When a rising star in the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation — 26-year-old John Edgar Hoover — started sniffing around, Williams fled the country. But he appointed an agent who went to court and recovered the guns in November of 1925. Apparently there was nothing illegal about buying 500 five hundred machine guns for an overseas revolution. Most of the tommy-guns eventually made it to Ireland, where some of them went into the 1970s during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Had a phone conversation with former president Pat Fell, he is in good spirits and was asking for everyone at the club.

Bob Pepitone is recovering from illness, and Gerard Falzo is recovering from a foot infection 

Pauline Mary Payne mother of member Mitch Payne passed away on April 26th. A wake was held at The Farmer Funeral Home in Roseland on Wednesday April 29th.

Funeral services were from The First Presbyterian Church, Bloomfield Ave Caldwell on Thursday April 30th.

Ar dheis De a raibh a hanam dilis

April 11, GAA Action at Gaelic Park, Bronx, NY

Connacht Championships: New York vs Roscommon

April 25, FSOS Annual Dinner Dance Honoring Tom Fleming, Chris Wightman & the Ironbound Irish-American Association, Hanover Manor

Photos: Janet Burke

More Photos at Janet's Pics

May 2, The Shillelagh Stakes by the ESGAA

5 Human Horses, one winner. Congrats to Seamus Brosnan moving on to Monmouth on June 7.

Shillelaghs About and About: monthly posting of members & friends at our club, at our events or proudly wearing Shillelagh Swag anywhere in the world. Bring your Swag where ever you go and send pics to [email protected] .

Dressed for Success as an Essex Shillelagh

The Executive Board has approved the Shillelagh uniform for 2025. 

All of what is listed below is considered part of the Official uniform for all members.  

Shillelagh Blazer 

• Call Ambassador Uniform at (800) 711-5885 x104. Ask to speak with sales and tell them you are calling to order:
• Shillelagh Blazer, Style #2013 in Hunter Green 
• Price is $76.90 (as of this email) 
• Turnaround time is 2-3 weeks

Shillelagh Patch

• The Shillelagh patch will be provided by the Club for members who have secured their Shillelagh blazer. Please speak with Kevin Kinney [email protected].

Shillelagh Tie

• The Shillelagh tie is available for purchase at the Club. Please speak with Kevin Kinney [email protected].

Slacks

• We have selected one style of charcoal gray slacks that members must wear. These slacks are available for purchase on Amazon, through this link Shillelagh Slacks
• Haggar Men's Premium Comfort Classic Fit Pleat Front Pant 
• Color: Charcoal **color is the most important aspect, as it is the most visible to those viewing the Club as we march together. If your size is not available in this particular pant, please purchase a similar model in Haggar charcoal**
• Price is variable by size (as of this email)

Shillelagh Cap

• The Shillelagh cap is available for purchase from Sashay Studios, through this link Shillelagh Cap
• Price is $15.00 (as of this email)   

Shillelagh Sweater

• The Shillelagh sweater is available for purchase from Sashay Studios, through this Shillelagh Sweater
• Price is $38.00 (as of this email) 

Shirt

• White button down dress shirt

Shoes 

• Black dress shoes



Looking forward to seeing everyone looking good come parade season!

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