Infamous ‘loaf of bread’ outburst led to Mangan digging deeper in replay

Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Westmeath's greatest day

One of the abiding memories from Westmeath's greatest year is the clip from the Marooned documentary where manager Páidí Ó Sé berates his corner forward Alan Mangan following the drawn Leinster final. It came during Ó Sé's infamous 'grain of rice' speech which at the time was for the purposes of the television documentary, a focus on his life after being ousted in Kerry.

Ó Sé tells the St Malachy’s star in no uncertain terms that he needs to be tougher ahead of the replay on July 24, delivering the legendary 'loaf of bread' comparison. Mangan would go on to produce a man of the match display against Laois in the replay, scoring four points including his side's first of the day after a protracted scoreless period of 23 minutes.

Reflecting on that iconic moment when he came under Ó Sé's radar, Mangan revealed he used the criticism in a positive way to help deliver an improved performance in the replay.

“I went into that week of training in a bad mood because I played very poor in the first game. And I said, ‘I’ll get away from everything this week’. I turned my phone off and I just focused on training that week,” he recalled.

“But I knew when Páidí gave me that eating, that when he said that you were ‘f****d over the line like a loaf bread’ - I knew then, from that moment onwards, that he was going to start me the following weekend, because he'd always be that type of character. We went into a training game after that, and I knew he wouldn't give out to someone unless he felt that they needed a kick.

“He obviously gave me an eating and I said, ‘well, he's not going to do that if I’m being dropped next weekend’. So it gave me a bit of a boost. People think, ‘oh, how did you play after that?’ But it actually made me focus,” he said.

Modestly, Mangan says he got lucky in the replay.

“I marked Joel Higgins the first day, who was an All Star the year before, and he cleaned me out. And Denis (Glennon) was that good the first day that Joe Higgins ended up moving in to man mark him. And I ended up marking Paul McDonald, who was the wing back in the drawn match: a wing back coming back to mark me. I'd marked him in a challenge earlier on that year, and had done well in him, so I had an idea that I was well able to get the better of him.”

Mangan revealed how Ó Sé built a kind of siege mentality that meant “players were going to stick together and ride it out” no matter the circumstances.

“The team was made up of a core group of players; two successful under 21 teams. The under 21 teams are fine, then we had the likes of Damian Healy, Rory O’Connell, David Mitchell; like we'd very experienced lads and in the next group were the team that won the All-Ireland (U21) and two Leinster U21 titles in-a-row. It was mostly made up of those lads and we all were great buddies, great friends,” he said.

“Páidí knew he probably had to integrate two groups in terms of, there were lads four or five years older in one group, and then us. But we were quite united, and I think we all got along for years. That was the biggest thing with that panel. There was no such thing, if you were going away for a night, of trying to room with certain lads. You really didn't mind who you were rooming with, because everyone was just good friends.”

Like most successful campaigns, there’s a seminal moment and Mangan agreed that came when the team overcame Dublin in the Leinster championship at a packed Croke Park.

“We knew ourselves that if we beat Dublin, we'd win the Leinster. That was the big thing. Páidí told us if we beat Offaly, we’d win the Leinster, because Dublin didn't like coming up against Páidí Ó Sé, so we had that one in our locker as well. He knew that the Dublin boys weren't overly fond of playing against him, and we sort of got to see a siege mentality off him.

“We went away the week before the first round of the championship to Rosses Point, Sligo. We were staying in the hotel down there and in the evening, there were 32 little boxes, like what you would hold medals in, lined out on a table. We were wondering, ‘what are they all doing there?’

“After dinner Páidí gave this big speech and what he said was, ‘trying to beat Westmeath was like beating your fist off an oak tree’. And we all got what was a little pin, and written on it was ‘ag bualadh dorn le darach’ (Ó Sé’s message in Irish).

“We bought into that mentality. We carried those pins with us for the rest of the year, on every top that we ever wore to a match; we'd obviously be wearing different tops to different games, but we always made sure that this was clipped onto our top. And when we’d go away, which we did for most weekends that year, it just helped gel us together even more.

Ó Sé had a closely-knit group with strength in depth, too.

“I think we more or less had the same 15 that started in every game. David Mitchell might have started against Wexford instead of Fergal Wilson, and then Fergal came on and played against Dublin. It also proved how worthy your subs are: Joe Fallon came on and made some difference. David Mitchell came on. We had Colin Galligan and Shane Colleary - all these lads were coming on and making a big difference every time. But I think it was the Dublin game that really cemented our place, that we were title challengers that year, and we knew ourselves after that. We didn’t actually play very well in the replay against Laois and went long periods without a score, but we had that belief.”

Mangan admits it was an incredible season.

“It was an unbelievable time to be playing for your county; that's the first thing. We had a front row seat, and it was just a great time for everyone in Westmeath. Actually, the players really enjoyed that summer. Everybody who involved enjoyed it from the very start, even November and December, the winter slogging and everything. There was such a buzz at having Páidí around, you know. So really, it took off, you could say from October, when he was announced.

“But it really got going after the league and when the championship began. It’s hard to believe 20 years have passed; it has flown by.”

There was that ropey period during the league when Westmeath and Ó Sé almost parted company as results went against them, but they managed to turn it around and he credits the experience in the group for being able to deal with the adversity. That, allied to a renewed drive from their manager once the championship took off.

“We played well in most league matches, apart from the Tyrone game. Even against Dublin in Cusack Park - we missed a penalty to win or draw the match near the end. And of course, it was Division 1 football as well. It was top level and we were very competitive.

“We should have beaten Longford, we should have beaten Cork, and we should have beaten Fermanagh up in Fermanagh. It was the win against Mayo that kept us up; Fermanagh and Longford went down. But there were games that we definitely should have won, and felt Dublin was one of those. People felt it was a big surprise to beat them in a championship, but we should have beaten them in the league; we definitely missed an opportunity and we only lost by three or four points in the end. We were the better team in an awful lot of league matches, but unfortunately, we just didn't get across the line. But, as a group, we felt that we were going reasonably well, whereas people outside looking in, felt that we weren't going as well as we should be.”

Looking back, one man Mangan gives a lot of credit to is the late Poggy Lynn, strength and conditioning coach with the team.

“He absolutely knitted the whole thing together. We trained on St Stephen's morning at eight o'clock in his gym and everybody trained. He was absolutely essential to our whole set-up,” remarked Mangan.

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