Castledaly have come on in leaps and bounds says Luke

Gerry Buckley

It is a measure of the unparalleled contribution which Luke Dempsey made to Gaelic football in Westmeath from the mid-1990s to the early 'noughties’ that mention of the name 'Luke’ is sufficient for Lake County supporters to immediately identify the long-time Mullingar resident in any GAA conversation.

Next Sunday, Luke will attempt to further embellish his already-glittering managerial reputation (with the 1995 minor and 1999 U21 All-Ireland victories as its inter-county highlights) by completing a most unusual club hat-trick, as he strives to guide St Loman’s, Mullingar to Flanagan Cup glory, having won the Kildare equivalent in both 2013 and 2014 with Moorefield.

Memorably, Luke came oh-so-close to replicating his underage heroics at senior level with Westmeath during his three years in charge (2000 to 2003). Spells in the bainisteoir bibs with Leixlip, Carlow (briefly), Longford (four years) and Carlow (again, this time for four years) and the aforementioned Moorefield ensued, before the powers-that-be in St Loman’s came knocking.

After initially asking the Delvin Road executive to “leave it with me”, the obvious appeal of cutting out onerous travelling saw him agree to take on the reins with the 2013 Westmeath champions as they try and regain the trophy named after one of their most famous former players and administrators, Paddy Flanagan.

Luke concedes that his year “started slowly”. Retirements, players on overseas adventures, uncertainty as to whether dual players would commit to football, allied to the unavailability of inter-county players due to Westmeath’s lengthy championship run, in a club where Luke says he is “working with a small pool of players, despite what people think”, made for frustrating times until Fermanagh ended the glorious campaign of Tom Cribbin’s troops.

The availability of John Heslin (albeit still recovering from a foot injury which prevented his participation against the Ernesiders), Paul Sharry and Shane Dempsey “improved the tempo and skill-set at training”, Luke opines. Also, the return of experienced attacking duo, Kelvin Reilly and Kieran Lynam (from Edinburgh and Liverpool respectively), and defender Paddy Dowdall being prepared to double up his duties with Clonkill hurlers – all of these factors strengthened Luke’s hand considerably.

A round robin defeat at the hands of Tyrrellspass, when Luke modestly concedes “we got it wrong tactically”, meant a tricky quarter-final clash with Coralstown/Kinnegad. However, this was negotiated successfully and, following the Mullingar blues’ seven-point defeat of their local green-clad rivals from Shamrocks (with whom Luke played, after settling in the town when he joined the teaching staff in St Joseph’s, Rochfortbridge) in last Sunday week’s penultimate round, St Loman’s were guaranteed a slot in the blue riband event of Westmeath club football for 2015.

Surprisingly, it is not Tyrrellspass who stand in St Loman’s way, but Castledaly, whose fairytale campaign – 12 months after narrowly avoiding relegation – sees them deservedly take their place in next Sunday’s eagerly-awaited decider. Naturally, Luke has the height of respect for their opponents.
“It is a family-based country club, and its players would die for the cause,” he said. “They have improved with every game and they showed great resilience against Killucan in the draw and replay.

“Against Tyrrellspass, despite conceding a goal at the worst possible time, they went on to be convincing winners. Overall, they have come on in leaps and bounds. Their manager, John Donnellan comes from a famous football family with a huge pedigree. The 'Donnellan’ name is synonymous with Galway football over many decades.”

Any mention of St Loman’s, Mullingar inevitably leads to talk of marquee player John Heslin. Unsurprisingly, Luke is a fan of the midfielder-cum-forward par excellence: “John sets very high standards for himself and he nearly always delivers.

“I can see an incremental improvement in his fitness since his injury and, while his involvement with the International Rules squad is a worry, it is no harm that he is getting plenty of football.”

Offaly’s Ken Casey, whom Luke previously worked with as pupil in St Joseph’s, has had a turbulent time with injuries since joining St Loman’s, and he needed “great care from the best medical people” in his recuperation from cruciate and Achilles problems. Indeed, all right-thinking Gaels will have been pleased to see the Croghan man contribute to the semi-final win over Bernard Flynn’s charges.

However, Luke is till sweating on the fitness of influential wing-back, David Whelan (“he is only 50/50 with hamstring trouble”) and one of Westmeath’s outstanding forwards in this summer’s historic Leinster campaign, Shane Dempsey (twisted hip).

As to where the game might be won and lost next Sunday, Luke feels that the powerful Castledaly 6-8-9-11 diamond of Alan Stone (“a real anchor for them at centre half back”), the centrefield pairing of Paddy Holloway (another excellent find for Tom Cribbin in 2015) and Niall Duffy, together with centre half forward Brendan Kelly, will take a lot of stopping.

Despite the 2008 champions’ impressive march to the final, St Loman’s, Mullingar will undoubtedly start as favourites next Sunday. Luke feels the win against Mullingar Shamrocks in the semi-final will stand them in great stead:

“Our lads were not intimidated by Shamrocks and they stood up physically to them. I’m delighted for them as they are a lovely bunch of young lads.”

Luke Dempsey is now just one hour away from adding yet another momentous achievement to his glorious managerial CV. But he is all-too-aware of the very difficult task which lies ahead in Cusack Park next Sunday at 3.30 pm.