Westmeath appoint new minor football manager

Vinny Cox has been appointed as the new manager of the Westmeath minor football team.

Westmeath Coiste na nÓg chairperson Alan Leech put Cox's name forward for the role at last Monday night’s county board meeting, and he was duly given the green light by club delegates.

A native of Ballymore, Cox is now attached to the Rosemount club and he has been involved with Cill Óige (an amalgamation of Rosemount and Castledaly) at underage level.

Vinny's management team will include fellow Rosemount clubman David Keane (a brother of Westmeath's only double All-Star, John Keane) and Garrycastle's David O’Shaughnessy, who lifted the Delaney Cup as Westmeath captain in 2004.

Also part of the backroom team will be John Duignan (Killucan) and Gary Devine of St Loman's, Mullingar.

Rosemount GAA club has congratulated Vinny on his appointment as Westmeath minor manager and offered him best wishes for the 2021 season.

"Vinny will be joined by fellow Rosemount man David Keane, David O’Shaughnessy from Garrycastle, John Duignan from Killucan & Gary Devine from St Loman's as selectors. Vinny will also have our current senior player Darren O’Connell as strength & conditioning coach. Best to luck to Vinny and his team!" Rosemount GAA posted online.

Cox succeeds Joe Giles as Westmeath minor (U-17) manager, who guided Westmeath to a memorable Leinster quarter-final win over Meath in 2019. The same opponents eliminated Westmeath from the 2020 Leinster championship which has yet to be concluded due to Covid-19 restrictions.

At the aforementioned county board meeting (held remotely), Leech thanked Giles and his team for their efforts over the past two years, adding that the “stop-start nature” of the 2020 season made things very difficult.