 | |||
| Sport: | Football | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish: | An Iarmhí | ||
| Nickname(s): | The Lake men[1] | ||
| County board: | Westmeath GAA | ||
| Manager: | Dermot McCabe | ||
| Captain: | Kevin Maguire[2] | ||
| Home venue(s): | Cusack Park,Mullingar | ||
| Recent competitive record | |||
| Current All-Ireland status: | Leinster (PR) in2024 | ||
| Last championship title: | None | ||
| Current NFL Division: | 3 (2nd in2024; promoted to Division 2) | ||
| Last league title: | None | ||
| |||
TheWestmeath county football team representsWestmeath in men'sGaelic football and is governed byWestmeath GAA, thecounty board of theGaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; theAll-Ireland Senior Football Championship, theLeinster Senior Football Championship and theNational Football League.
Westmeath's home ground isCusack Park,Mullingar. The team's manager isDermot McCabe.
The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship in2004, have never won the All-Ireland Senior Championship but won the National League five times.
Westmeath's history is that of a minor county which only recently rose to the higher ranks of football. Its 2004Leinster Senior Football Championship (SFC) provincial title was presaged by a 1995All-Ireland Minor Football Championship (MFC) title and victory in the 1999All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship.
Another generation of Westmeath players took part in the first week-night fixture in the GAA championship: on 20 June 1935 they playedMeath inKells and lost by a scoreline of 2–7 to 0–9. The footballers won the 1929Leinster Junior Football Championship (JFC), lost toDublin by ten points in 1960 and then defeated Dublin to reach the 1931 Leinster SFC final. The team defeatedCarlow,Laois andOffaly to advance to a 1949 Leinster SFC final against Meath, but was well beaten on both occasions. Twenty years later the team reached theNational Football League semi-final. Westmeath defeated Dublin again in the 1967 Leinster SFC and the 1984Centenary Cup campaign and qualified for a second League semi-final in 1994.
In 2001, the team went on an All-Ireland SFC run that lasted for an unprecedented nine games, including anextra-time win againstMayo in Roscommon. Prominent players in this campaign wereGer Heavin,Dessie Dolan,Rory O'Connell,Damien Healy andDavid Mitchell, with other players occasionally coming to prominence, including Martin Flanaghan, Fergal Wilson, Paul Conway, David O'Shaughnessy and Fergal Murray. The team's campaign ended when it lost to Meath in a2001 All-Ireland SFC quarter-finalreplay. Uneventful 2002 and 2003 seasons followed and Westmeath parted terms with its then manager,Luke Dempsey.
FormerKerry player and managerPáidí Ó Sé was brought in to manage the senior team some months later, after he had been removed from his role as Kerry senior manager. The following year, under the management of Ó Sé, Westmeath progressed to the2004 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final and won a first ever Leinster SFC title with a replayed victory over Laois (having previously beatenWexford, Dublin and Offaly).[3] However, the team tamely exited its second All-Ireland SFC quarter-final — losing toDerry. That campaign is covered in the documentary filmMarooned.
Ó Sé quit Westmeath at the end of a poor 2005 season and his assistantTomás Ó Flatharta replaced him. After a poor league campaign, in which the team nevertheless securedpromotion from Division 2, Offaly knocked Westmeath out of the Leinster SFC in the first round. However, wins overLondon,Limerick,Sligo and, then, a historic defeat ofGalway, atPearse Stadium inSalthill, set up a third All-Ireland SFC quarter-final for the team in six years[4] — against Dublin on this occasion. Westmeath did not live up to expectations in that game and sustained a ten-point defeat.
Westmeath staged a strong second half display to capture the 2008 Division 2 National Football League title for the third time, and the first since 2003 following a five-point win over Dublin atPáirc Tailteann inNavan. The scoreline in that game was Westmeath 0–15, Dublin 0–10.
Dublin defeated Westmeath by 27 points in the 2009 Leinster SFC quarter-final. Ó Flatharta resigned as Westmeath manager after the team's defeat to neighbour Meath on 11 July 2009.
The county board, searching for a manager after the resignation of Ó Flatharta, appointedBrendan Hackett as manager in September 2009, with the choice of someone who had not managed at that level for many years seen as unexpected.[5][6] Hackett includedMichael Carruth as a masseur andEoin Rheinisch as part of "physical preparations" on his backroom team.[7] Westmeath embarked on a second successive league campaign without winning a game and the team wasrelegated to Division 3 of the National Football League.[8] Hackett resigned in April 2010.[9] He did not contest a single championship match.[6]
Under the management ofTom Cribbin the team reached consecutive Leinster SFC finals in 2015 and 2016. This was a first in the team's history.[10] The team also won the2017 NFL Division 4 title.[10]Colin Kelly was appointed Cribbin's successor as Westmeath manager on a two-year term in late 2017 but left in mid-2018, citing family commitments.[11][12]
Jack Cooney's appointment as Westmeath senior manager was ratified in September 2018, making him the first Westmeath native to fill the role since 1992.[13] Under Cooney's management the team won the2019 O'Byrne Cup, its first time to win that competition since 1988. Later that year it won the2019 NFL Division 3 title. In 2022, Westmeath won theinaugural Tailteann Cup, defeatingCavan inthe final at Croke Park.[14] Cooney resigned unexpectedly the following month,[15] and was succeeded byDessie Dolan.[16] Dolan walked in August 2024.[17]
Team as per Westmeath vsDerry in the2024 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Group 1 Round 3, 15 June 2024
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2024) |
Westmeath have a history of appointing "foreign" managers, withPáidí Ó Sé the most successful appointment; Ó Sé led Westmeath to the 2004 Leinster SFC (a first in the team's history).[20]
| Dates | Name | Origin | Honours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19??–1992 | Brian Murtagh | Club in Westmeath? | ? |
| 1992–1995[21] | Mattie Kerrigan | — | |
| 1995–1997[22] | Barney Rock | — | |
| 1997–2000[23] | Brendan Lowry | — | |
| 2000–2003[24] | Luke Dempsey | 2003 NFL Division 2 | |
| 2003–2005[25][26] | Páidí Ó Sé | 2004Leinster Senior Football Championship | |
| 2005–2009[27][28] | Tomás Ó Flatharta | 2006 NFL Division 2, 2008 NFL Division 2 | |
| 2009–2010[29][30] | Brendan Hackett | — | |
| 2010–2013[31][32] | Pat Flanagan | — | |
| 2013–2014[33][34][35] | Paul Bealin | — | |
| 2014–2017[36][10] | Tom Cribbin | 2017 NFL Division 4 | |
| 2017–2018[11][12] | Colin Kelly | — | |
| 2018–2022[13][15] | Jack Cooney | Coralstown/Kinnegad | 2019 O'Byrne Cup, 2019 NFL Division 3, 2022 Tailteann Cup |
| 2022–2024[16][17] | Dessie Dolan | Garrycastle | — |
| 2024– | Dermot McCabe | — |
Pat Flanagan was initially appointed asinterim manager in April 2010 followingBrendan Hackett's departure.[37][38][39]
Championship only, as ofgame played 9 July 2022.[40]
| # | Name | Career | Total | Goals | Points | Appearances | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Heslin | 2011– | 177 | 5 | 162 | ||
| 2 | Dessie Dolan | 1999–2014 | 175 | 4 | 163 | ||
| 3 | Denis Glennon | 2004–20?? | 82 | 1 | 79 | ||
| 4 | Kieran Martin | 2009– | 61 | 8 | 37 | ||
| 5 | Fergal Wilson | 1999–2011 | 60 | 1 | 57 |
Westmeath has 5 All Stars, as of 2008. 4 different players have won, as of 2008.
2001:Rory O'Connell
2004:Dessie Dolan1st win, 3rd nomination
2004:John Keane
2008:Gary Connaughton1st win, 3rd nomination
2008: John Keane2nd win
| Player | 2001 | 2004 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rory O'Connell |  | — | — |
| Dessie Dolan | — | | — |
| John Keane | — | | |
| Gary Connaughton | — | — | |
1999:Dessie Dolan[41]
2001: Dessie Dolan[42]2nd nomination
2001:Ger Heavin[42]
2001:David Mitchell[42]
2004:Gary Connaughton[43]
2004:Donal O'Donoghue[43]
2004:Denis Glennon[43]
2006: Gary Connaughton[44]2nd nomination
2008:Michael Ennis[45]
2015:Kieran Martin[46]
Winners (1): 1999Winners (1): 1995
Runners-up (1): 1963Winners (4): 1905, 1915, 1929, 1940Winners (2): 1999, 2000Runners-up (3): 1995, 1997, 2010[55]Kerrigan spent almost four years in charge of Westmeath up to 1995, arriving only weeks before a championship match in 1992 against Carlow. From such a sorry state of affairs he managed to set the revolution in place, raising them from Division 4 league status to Division 2 before his departure.
A fortnight after Dublin's wildly-celebrated 1995 All-Ireland victory, former star Barney Rock set off for Mullingar to begin his reign as Westmeath football manager... In his two seasons with Westmeath, Rock acted as both senior and Under-21 boss and was immediately impressed.
Lowry has been in the hot seat for the past three years, during a time when Westmeath emerged as competitive challengers in Leinster, aided by the success of their minor and Under-21 teams.
Dempsey led Westmeath to the All-Ireland minor title in 1995 and the All-Ireland U-21 crown in 1999 before taking over from Brendan Lowry as senior manager.
Westmeath got a lesson in the cruel, harsh reality of football in Ennis yesterday when they were quietly ushered out the championship back door by Clare, and their superstar manager Páidí Ó Sé called it a day.
19:51 Stat [Dressing room all set for the players arrival ahead of tonight's O'Bryne Cup Final v Dublin in Parnell Park at 8PM. Hopefully we will be lifting our first title since 1988. Let's give it everything!!!!#iarmhiabu#westmeathgaa pic.twitter.com/Ca3tVUkrBv — westmeathgaaofficial (@westmeath_gaa) January 18, 2019] It has been a 31-year wait for Westmeath
