Minors in ‘63, seniors in ‘69 the highlights of ‘Swinging Sixties’

Late last year, Gerry Buckley reviewed Westmeath football and hurling at inter-county level in the ‘tennies’ (2010 to 2019) and gave his own selections on teams of the decade. With Gaelic games now at a standstill, over the next ten weeks he is planning a similar brief overview from the 1960s to the ‘noughties’ inclusive. This week he focuses on football in the 1960s.

I am reliably informed that the alleged Meath hoodoo which drove me absolutely nuts until June 28, 2015 had already started by the time yours truly arrived on this planet in 1956, as we seemingly missed a glorious chance to dethrone the reigning All-Ireland champions in the Leinster semi-final a year earlier.

Do the simple maths and you will see that the early part of the 1960s is not part of my recollection process. Surprisingly enough, however, given that I grew up listening to the awful mantra of the ‘annual outing’ in relation to the first round of the Leinster senior football championship, results weren’t bad at all by that depressing criterion. Indeed, I naively thought that Croke Park might be a regular big match haunt by the time my teenage years started a few months before the start of the 1970s!

Victories over Laois and Kildare (for the first time in the championship) constituted a fine run in the Leinster SFC in 1960, but are not in my memory bank. Older and wiser folk remember that opening year of the decade fondly. Indeed, there is a body of opinion that the alleged ‘taking out’ of the incomparable Mick Carley (who was already having a field day) in the semi-final against Louth, and the absence of the out-of-favour Tommy Monaghan, were key factors in a failure to reach a third provincial final, where first-time champions-elect Offaly awaited. Another of those galling ‘what ifs?’ for Lake County people.

Thankfully, the grey cells do go back as far as Fr Michael Cremin’s minors reaching the Tom Markham Cup decider three years later. And what glorious memories that minor campaign evokes. A two-game saga with Laois – we never seem to have a one-game ‘saga’ at underage level against the O’Moore County – prior to glorious wins against Dublin and Down in Tullamore and Croke Park respectively, before Kerry spoiled the party as decisively as it was unexpectedly in the All-Ireland final. In the same year, our juniors reached a then-prestigious Leinster final where Wexford proved too strong on the day in Croke Park.

Six years later, a good number of the 1963 minors had graduated into outstanding seniors. Victories over Sam Maguire Cup holders Down in Carrickmacross (on one of the coldest days God ever inflicted on long-suffering supporters) and a great win in a tempestuous play-off clash with Dublin in Navan (Pat Bradley’s sending off that day deprived Brendan Quinn’s troops of a quality player for the ensuing game), meant that all roads led to Croke Park on May 11, 1969 for a National League semi-final. The Kingdom men again turned out to be the party-poopers, but a four-point defeat augured well for a lengthy championship run. Sadly, it wasn’t to be, and a somewhat fortunate first round win over Louth (a first ever Leinster SFC triumph in Croke Park) preceded a chastening from an up-and-coming Offaly team.

As the stats hereunder highlight, two Leinster SFC wins were achieved in 1960 and 1966, while the other eight years were split half and half between one win (including a famous success against Dublin in 1967 in Tullamore) and none. My National League records show another very close to 50/50 ratio - 25 wins, one draw, and 26 losses were recorded in 52 NFL clashes over the decade.

Westmeath’s Leinster SFC results in the 1960s were as follows:

8/5/60, Tullamore, Westmeath 2-10, Laois 1-11

5/6/60, Tullamore, Westmeath 2-9, Kildare 2-8

3/7/60, Navan, Louth 1-8, Westmeath 1-1

7/5/61, Tullamore, Longford 3-10, Westmeath 0-8

27/5/62, Tullamore, Laois 2-8, Westmeath 1-9

5/5/63, Cusack Park, Longford 3-8, Westmeath 1-6

26/4/64, Longford, Westmeath 0-12, Longford 0-8

31/5/64, Tullamore, Laois 2-8, Westmeath 0-13

9/5/65, Navan, Westmeath 2-11, Louth 0-9

13/6/65, Croke Park, Meath 1-12, Westmeath 1-9

1/5/66, Newbridge, Westmeath 2-10, Carlow 2-6

5/6/66, Tullamore, Westmeath 2-11, Laois 1-5

26/6/66, Croke Park, Meath 2-14, Westmeath 1-8

11/6/67, Tullamore, Westmeath 1-6, Dublin 0-8

9/7/67, Tullamore, Meath 0-12, Westmeath 0-6

23/6/68, Croke Park, Meath 1-11, Westmeath 1-7

1/6/69, Croke Park, Westmeath 1-7, Louth 1-6

29/6/69, Croke Park, Offaly 3-14, Westmeath 1-8

When it comes to an attempt to pick a Westmeath football team of the decade, the usual problems arise in relation to the relevance over a ten-year period of those who only played a few games therein as their careers had all but ended by 1960 e.g. legendary figures like Paddy Flanagan and the aforementioned Tommy Monaghan (both from St Loman’s). Similarly, those whose better days were to come in the 1970s – they can be accommodated in two weeks from now when I attempt to cover that decade.

I am grateful to a couple of confidants for marking my card on the likes of Mick Conlon, Brian Kavanagh and Paddy Cooney, none of whom I recall with any degree of clarity in the maroon and white jersey. Rhyming off a list of also-rans creates more controversy than it is worth as it can be outwardly exhaustive, but ultimately incomplete. Team ‘selection’ is a very subjective exercise. So here goes: