Sherlock and Keane declined manager’s role

GAA County Committee meeting

Former Dublin football star Jason Sherlock turned down the opportunity to manage Westmeath, County Committee chairman Frank Mescall revealed to clubs at the October meeting in the Mullingar Park Hotel.

Sherlock worked with Dessie Dolan for the previous two years as part of the management team, but declined to take up the leading role when Dolan stepped away. Similarly, John Keane, who was coach alongside Dolan, also declined to take up the mantle.

Westmeath have ratified Cavan’s Dermot McCabe as the county’s new senior football manager after he won unanimous support from clubs at the County Committee meeting.

McCabe will be joined by Donegal’s Mark McHugh, who will lead a strong coaching team. McHugh was a coach/selector with the Roscommon senior team in 2023, a season when the Rossies finished in the top three in Division 1 of the Allianz Football League.

There will be one more outside coach added and Westmeath will have to source local selectors to work with the new management.

The process has been intense since Dessie Dolan resigned in August. Jack Cooney, former Westmeath senior football manager, who was part of the committee, noted that he has never been involved in anything as stressful.

Frank Mescall said McCabe comes with excellent credentials.

“He’s a very impressive man. As a player he was a really good player; and his coaching expertise – his day job is football, looking after development squads, and all of that. He has hugely impressive credentials for that,” he remarked.

“We weren’t prepared to accept any ‘Joe Soap’; we were selective. We approached a lot of people. We travelled to meet three people but in the end we decided on Dermot McCabe.”

McCabe won six senior club championships and secured both Ulster U21 and senior titles with Cavan as a player. He represented Ulster in the Inter-Provincial Championships and Ireland in the International Rules Series on multiple occasions.

In 1997, he earned the prestigious honour of becoming Cavan’s second-ever All-Star.

McCabe is heavily involved with coaching and works as games development manager in Cavan. He has won Ulster Senior and Minor Championships with Cavan (he was part of Mickey Graham’s management team when Cavan won the Ulster SFC in 2020) and two senior club championships along with a league title with his home club, Gowna.

Mark McHugh, meanwhile, known for his tactical expertise and dedication to the game, will be a key figure in shaping the future of the team. Together, McCabe and McHugh bring a wealth of experience, leadership, and ambition, making for an exciting chapter in Westmeath football.

There was a query from Derek Heffernan of Killucan regarding a local man, but the chairman said finding someone with proper experience from within Westmeath was a challenge and managing the team is a major commitment.

“We were blessed to have Jack Cooney: we had an immediate successor to him in Dessie Dolan. The fact that John Keane or Jason Sherlock were not interested as part of the outgoing team meant it had to be a totally new person. Both were asked and they said no,” he said.

Meanwhile, Johnny Rabbit of Castlepollard complained about leaks in the appointment of the new senior football manager. He felt it should not have been released until clubs met to ratify the Cavan man.

“I remember being here when Dessie Dolan’s departure was leaked. It’s the same thing this time around,” he said.

Frank Mescall informed clubs it was leaked the previous week and he was made aware of it when he received a call and five or six people were named as sources. “Word gets out, there are lots of ways it could get out but it’s a fact of life,” he said, pointing out that it’s easy for information to be passed on when different people are interviewed for the position.

Centre of Excellence €1m draw

Westmeath GAA has announced a major fundraising initiative to raise €1 million for a new centre of excellence, the top prize of which is an apartment in Spain. The draw, revealed at the County Committee meeting in the Mullingar Park Hotel on Tuesday October 15, will take place in May 2025. It aims to generate €1.5 million in total, covering the cost of the apartment and the promotion of the draw.

The ambitious venture will charge the county’s 47 GAA clubs with selling €100 tickets to help reach the target. Promotion of the event will be handled by 62 Digital, an online company, while Westmeath Camogie Association and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) will also lend their support.

Between the GAA, camogie, and LGFA boards, a total of 5,000 tickets will need to be sold, said Patrick Doherty, head of operations.

While the Spanish apartment is the headline prize, no details of additional prizes were announced at the meeting.

The draw is expected to generate significant interest across the county, and Mark Bardon of Multyfarnham expressed concerns about the added workload on clubs already busy raising funds. “Clubs are under a lot of pressure with their own fundraising,” Bardon stated, echoing concerns that were also raised by Thomas ‘Spike’ McCormack of Ballymore, who felt that more time was needed for such a large-scale initiative.

Frank Mescall urged all clubs to fully commit to the draw. “Clubs have to work to continue to expand, and we have to develop our own facilities. There is never a good time, and we need to start now,” he said.

He noted that six to seven months is considered the optimal time frame for such a major fundraising event, and emphasised that the lead-up to Christmas is seen as an ideal period to kick-start the campaign, citing data from analysts.

Acknowledging the pressures faced by clubs, Mr Mescall reminded them of the significant financial boost they received last year through the €1 million contribution from JP McManus. One delegate, light-heartedly, remarked, “We’ll be writing to JP for another donation.”

Despite the challenges, the collective effort of the clubs, camogie, and LGFA boards is expected to play a crucial role in the success of the draw. With €1.5 million needed in total, it is hoped that the enticing prospect of winning a Spanish apartment will capture the imagination of the public and help secure the future of Westmeath GAA’s centre of excellence.

Extra-time ‘boo-boo’ acknowledged

Frank Mescall acknowledged an error on the part of the Competitions Control Committee (CCC) in relation to the confusion over extra-time in the Westmeath senior football final between The Downs and St Loman’s, Mullingar.

He explained that an error was made in advance of the final and on the day in informing clubs and the paying public that extra-time would be played.

“It was a boo-boo. We corrected it as soon as we could. It shouldn’t have happened. Let’s not take away from a great county final. It was clearly stated in the planning report at the start of the year that a replay would take place in our two county finals, hurling and football, if they ended in a draw. We had left time for a replay in our schedule,” he explained.

The chairman rejected suggestions that it was geared at bringing in extra revenue.

Later in the meeting, it was confirmed that Westmeath gate receipts are down by 17% this year as people stayed away from games, either because they were not enthused by the type of defensive football being played, or they preferred to watch it on the Iarmhí TV streaming service.

Patrick Doherty pointed out that hurling attendances had been steady by comparison to football. Tom Hunt, Central Council delegate, reported that football attendances are down considerably on a national level.

Sympathy to Shaw family

Frank Mescall paid tribute to the late Liz Cahill, née Shaw, who passed away at a young age last week.

He noted that Liz hailed from a great sporting family, and was a sister of county secretary Brendan Shaw and former Westmeath hurler John. She was deeply involved in camogie and hurling especially.

“We extend our deepest sympathy to both the Cahill and Shaw families; that would be the sentiment of all the clubs in Westmeath, I feel,” said the chairman.

At the end of the meeting a minute’s silence was observed in memory of Liz Cahill.