Keane hails ‘exceptional’ Garrycastle group as new role beckons

Last Sunday’s dramatic Westmeath SFC final defeat to St Loman’s Mullingar brought the curtain down on the management term of Gary Dolan and John Keane.

In the aftermath of the final – which St Loman’s won after extra-time - Keane confirmed that he and team manager Dolan would be stepping down from their roles.

“Our four years is up at the minute. We were down to do two, we did three and then went again. The lads know we’re finished and it’s such a pity (the result of the final) as this is just an exceptional group of lads,” said the former Rosemount and Westmeath star.

And despite the obvious disappointment of last Sunday’s outcome, Keane was full of praise for the “heart” the players have shown “over the four years of our involvement with the lads”.

“There is no hardship or messing (with them). Anthony Larkin got married last weekend – there wasn’t a thing about it. Mark McCallon was supposed to be on his stag party last night, there wasn’t a word about it; it was just cancelled, end of story. You only hear about these things afterwards.”

Dolan and Keane guided Garrycastle to Flanagan Cup success in 2019 when, ironically, their charges defeated St Loman’s in the final.

Keane is now taking up a new role in the Westmeath senior football management team under Jack Cooney.

Former Dublin ladies football coach Ken Robison is leaving the Westmeath set-up, but former Garrycastle goalkeeper Cathal Mullin is remaining on. There is expected to be further additions to the management team in the near future.

Looking back on last Sunday’s Westmeath SFC final replay, Garrycastle were left with plenty of regrets after their agonising defeat.

They may have had no answer when St Loman’s got on top in extra-time, but over the course of the 60-odd minutes, incredibly tight margins came into play.

There were two disputed points from the impressive Shane Dempsey in the first half and while the referee seemed correct to overrule his umpires in the second case, the first one looked particularly contentious.

Then there was the soft goal Garrycastle conceded early in the second half as a passing error presented TJ Cox with an opportunity.

In the third quarter, Garrycastle dominated possession around midfield, with Justin Barrett leading the way. But they struggled to turn possession into scores with a string of missed chances proving crucial.

Then there was James Dolan being so impaired by an injury that he had to be called ashore. And although Dolan was reintroduced later, he was clearly unable to make the sort of impact required.

And that’s even before we consider the drawn game when Garrycastle held a four-point lead at half-time and had a chance to go two points up near the end before Loman’s equalised.

Keane described the replay as a “helter-skelter game between two quality teams”, but suggested that the drawn match was a “better quality game”.

Keane said: “We knew we’d get back into it and Seanie (Brennan) stepped up and kicked the ball over the bar (from a last-gasp ‘45’); he was never going to miss it. Seanie is a soccer player and he was an outfield player for us in our first year. He’s always had that in his arsenal.

“Then when we came into extra-time, we needed a good start. But they just had that bit of class with ‘Hes’ (John Heslin). He was just on another level when the game opened up. Jack (Donohue) did a super job marshalling him over the two games.”

John Gaffey, one of Garrycastle’s most experienced warriors, was outstanding for long spells of last Sunday’s contest.

“I said it to him afterwards that he’s lucky that his kids can see him blocking balls like that – two of the best blocks I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how to teach that, it’s in you or it’s not, and it’s definitely in John Gaffey,” said Keane.

Eoin Monaghan was another Garrycastle player who really impressed despite the eventual defeat. “We expect a hell of a lot from our half forward line. We ask them to empty the tank and we have a decent bench to make an impact. Mickey (Monaghan) was outstanding the last day, Tom (O’Halloran) has been outstanding all year. Eoin is just an exceptional, gifted footballer and he clipped over three points,” said Keane.

“Jimmy Dolan hasn’t trained in maybe six weeks. He’s never going to put his hand up to say he wants to come off, but he’s really struggling to walk at the minute. He’s just an exceptional individual who is Garrycastle to the core,” he continued.

Although Alex Gardiner pounced for a first-half goal, in general a packed Loman’s defence made things difficult for the talented attacker.

“Alex never hides from it. Even if he wasn’t getting the scores, he was still working, putting in tackles and covering the ground,” Keane added.