New York are set to withdraw from the upcoming Connacht senior football championship because of immigration concerns which appear to affect many players on the panel.

Only two players from last year's team turned up for last weekend's challenge game with Donegal in New York and with training now suspended, the scheduled clash with Galway in Tuam on June 10th is almost certain to be shelved.

The major reason for such widespread player absence - 18 of last year's panel are now gone - is the fear of travelling out of New York. Two players were reportedly stopped on the way back from the Mayo game last summer and there is a decreased willingness amongst the regular players to jeopardise their position in the US by returning to Ireland.

The increasing work commitments of the players in the States is another factor.

The New York senior board will meet today to discuss the implications of their withdrawal. Monty Moloney, the board president, said yesterday that although it went against his own wishes to pull out, the matter has gone beyond his control.

"The big problem is getting a full squad of players to do ourselves justice," he said. "We will be taking a vote from all the clubs to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of pulling out, but it appears to be too late to go back now."

The New York board went to great lengths in organising the challenge game with the visiting Donegal seniors last Sunday which, according to Moloney, was to be used for two purposes: finding out which players were available and as a measuring stick on how competitive New York could be.

"We failed on both counts," he said. "Only two players from last year's side showed up and we lost by 16 points. Pulling out will be a major setback for both the New York board and the international promotion of Gaelic games. But other things have been neglected here in recent years and the reasons are far-reaching."

New York's first championship appearance came last summer when they played Mayo - losing 3-13 to 0-10. Yet fears of another heavy defeat at the hands of Galway were apparently not overly pressing: "If we had our best team on the day we could be competitive," says Moloney.

However, there are further problems. Board treasurer Dermot Flynn has recently resigned and the Donegal visit cost the New York body $12,000. There had also been previous conflicts with manager Frank Brady over player commitment and trainer Leslie McGettigan has also stepped down.

The late withdrawal could result in some sort of sanction or penalty from the Connacht Council. "The most severe penalty for us is that we're out of it," says Moloney. "We've waited a long time to get in and now we face this scenario. But I can't see any major sanction in that we are severely handicapped in our ability to travel. Politics and economics have got in the way."