‘Another successful minor team can provide the inspiration’

Westmeath’s 2004 winning captain David O’Shaughnessy has recalled the impact the late Páidí Ó Sé had on the successful side and spoken of how crucial a role the strong backroom team played in the county’s historic success almost two decades ago.

He feels that success at minor level will be crucial if the county is to relive those heady days.

O’Shaughnessy had the honour of being the first and as yet only Westmeath man to lift the Delaney Cup in Croke Park after he and his colleagues made the historic breakthrough when they overcame Laois in a replay. The Garrycastle man was working in England at the time but quit his then job to play for Westmeath, such was his dedication to the task.

O’Shaughnessy recalled the team’s trip to Sunderland during that first year of Páidí Ó Sé’s reign. It was something new to the Westmeath players to have a bonding trip of that nature and they learned a great deal about the Kerry legend that weekend.

“Our first experience was going over the Stadium of Light back then. Páidí was gathering us (for the season ahead) and I was working in the UK at the time. I drove up to meet the players: they were after getting a Ryanair flight over and there was great excitement. I remember parking the car up and wondering what way this was going to go. Everyone gathered in the foyer of the hotel - all buzzing and raring to go,” he recalled.

O’Shaughnessy remembers that training weekend in Sunderland as being one of many key moments on the way to Westmeath’s greatest ever success. The players were exposed to what it was like to perform at the highest level and the kind of rigorous preparation that involved.

“We had a lot of different ideas, but Páidí and Tomás (Ó Flatharta) sought the training facilities in the Stadium of light and they gave us an eye-opener as to what was going to unfold for the coming years when the guys were in charge. It was fantastic; we knew it was going to be a different experience,” said O’Shaughnessy, who admitted he now has greater respect for management teams.

“As players, we wear the jersey and we have to perform. Over the years when you are looking back, you get a greater appreciation of the backroom team and what goes into the performance.”

People’s passion for Westmeath football and the players’ determination to succeed were quickly noticed by the Kerry legend and he tapped into that during his tenure, O’Shaughnessy felt.

“They (Páidí and Tomás) identified that (passion) back in ‘03 / ‘04 when they were putting their backroom together. One thing that is universal across the players when we look back, there was a premiership backroom team,” remarked the winning captain.

GREATEST EVER

Westmeath enjoyed regular trips away and being from Kerry, Ó Sé had a special regard for the beach and knew the benefits training at the sea could bring to a team with aspirations of success.

“Obviously Michael was the coordinator and we didn’t have to ask for anything. We had fantastic trips, fantastic times, be it going to the Stadium of Light, our weekends away in Rosses Point, or down to Inchydoney. We were fond of the sea to freshen us up. Páidí was a great believer, obviously, in that. It has given me a grá for the Atlantic,” remarked O’Shaughnessy.

He was modest about his role, having played alongside Rory O’Connell in midfield in what was perhaps the county’s greatest ever combination. Many observers do refer to the late Mick Carley and Dom Murtagh, but O’Shaughnessy and O’Connell brought their own unique blend.

“I was lucky enough to be captain of that team; when you look back, what made the team unique, and what made the whole panel and the backroom team, it was that we had fantastic individuals and fantastic characters. Everyone was a leader. I was lucky to be asked to go up and take the toss of the coin (for games) and see what way we were going (to play),” he said.

“But everyone was a captain within that team. Be it the backroom team, be it on the panel, be it among the players. We had real strong characters and we had great craic.”

O’Shaughnessy referred to the success of Westmeath minor and under 21 teams during the 1990s as being fundamentally important to the success at senior level in 2004. It laid the platform for that victory and he expressed the view that Westmeath must make a renewed effort at minor level in the coming years.

“Maybe it’s time - and when Luke (Dempsey) was talking about 1995 - the inspiration for me goes back to that time. What really got my juices going was going over to Tullamore for the epic matches against Laois: the replays and the packed-out stadiums. We all felt like we wanted a bit of that,” he recalled.

“Maybe there’s now an opportunity for another chapter, for another ‘95 team or an underage team. Obviously we have Des and JK (John Keane) with the senior team, but I think there’s an appetite out there to replicate the success we had in the past (at minor level).”

David was thrilled to relive the glory days of 2004 in the company of former colleagues and proud Westmeath Gaels.

“It’s a testament to Michael (Duffy) and his family the turnout tonight. I must say it’s great to meet everyone who contributed to Westmeath GAA, be it in ‘04 or previous; any of the various different players and backroom teams,” he said. “But I suppose, now 20 years on, me, and a lot of the lads are on the sidelines at go-games around the county and we’re on a different journey and it’s like a roundabout, we’re meeting people that we would have encountered. It’s all about the next generation, and generations ahead.

“It's fantastic thing that we have ‘Marooned’ to look back on. Especially during Covid and various different times, it's fantastic to look back on that. And now we have the book and it’s in writing. So it’s great to have it down on paper.

“Some of the lads - me included - are wondering what’s in this? Luckily there wasn’t social media or TikTok back in those days! For generations ahead, people can look back on stuff.”

O’Shaughnessy spoke at the launch of Mick Duffy’s book, ‘The Making of Memories’, in The Annebrook House Hotel Mullingar, where he was one of the special guests.