No fond memories for Rosemount native of last Leinster semi final against Louth

Rosemount native George Keane was part of the Westmeath forward line the last time they played Louth in the semi-finals of the Leinster SFC, back in 1960. Unfortunately for George and his team-mates, Westmeath succumbed to a 1-8 to 1-1 defeat in Navan on the day, and George recalls the day with bad memories. "It wasn't much about football, to be honest with you," George told the 'Westmeath Independent' from his Dublin home. "We were exposed to a huge level of intimidation and physical brutality from the word-go. Our star player at the time, Mick Carley, got both our scores in the opening stages, but had to be taken off injured after about ten minutes. Mick dislocated his collarbone in a tough tackle, which was very typical of the approach Louth took on the day. They were disgraceful in the way they played, to be honest. Westmeath had very good defenders at the time but we lacked weight in the forward line. Louth had won the All-Ireland in 1957 and the remnants of that team were still playing, but we fancied our chances going into the game. Unfortunately, we came up against a lot of stuff that would be unprintable in the paper," added Keane, whose nephew, John, recently returned to the Westmeath panel ahead of Sunday's meeting with Louth at Croke Park. But George urged Westmeath fans not to put too much pressure on his nephew. "To be fair to John, he hasn't played at this level for a good while and has suffered with a knee injury," George said. "He's obviously still a very good player but his injury hasn't magically cured, and it will be a tough test for him against Louth. John had very valid reasons for stepping away from the panel, and stated them quite clearly, which is something I respect. It's probably unlikely John will be ready for 70 minutes on Sunday, but he has been Westmeath's best defender for many years," he added. George also feels people are getting a little carried away by Westmeath's recent quarter-final win over Wicklow. "It was a great boost and Pat Flanagan, who I don't know at all, seems to have restored something to their play, but I can't understand people making Westmeath favourites to beat Louth on the basis of one win against Wicklow. Louth looked pretty good against Kildare in their quarter-final, but we also have to wonder about the strength of Kildare on the day. Put it this way, I wouldn't be putting my house on either Westmeath or Louth to win on Sunday, it's too hard to know. Louth are reasonably good but I certainly hope to be in Croke Park on Sunday, and watching a Westmeath win," George said. 1960 - Teams & Scorers The 1960 game, a half-century ago, was the only time the teams met in a Leinster semi-final. Westmeath, on the back of a rare two-in-a-row championship victories over Laois and Kildare, were well beaten on the day, with the aforementioned Mick Carley being the losers' only scorer. Louth lost the Leinster final (their last appearance therein) by a point to an emerging Offaly side, with Down making history two months later by bringing the Sam Maguire Cup across the border for the first time. Westmeath: B. McCann, M. Conlon, B. Kavanagh, T. J. Finneran, F. Colclough, M. Moran, P. Cooney, M. Carley (1-1), N. Bruer, J. Lestrange, T. Gunn, B. Rabbitte, G. Keane, K. Ryan, J. Long. Subs: L. Donnelly (for Gunn), J. Dunne (for Carley), M. Scanlon (for Donnelly). Louth: S. Flood, O. Reilly, G. Carroll, J. Meehan, F. Lynch (0-1), Jim McArdle, S. White, P. Coleman, John McArdle, P. Geraghty (0-1), D. O'Brien, K. Behan (0-4), J. Gough, J. Reynolds (0-1), J. Roe (0-1). Subs: J. Woods (for O'Brien), K. Lynch (1-0) (for Woods), J. Mulroy (for John McArdle). *The details from the 1960 Leinster semi-final between Westmeath and Louth are taken from 'The Millennium Handbook of Westmeath Gaelic Games' by Gerry Buckley.