Dessie Dolan (right) with John Keane, both of whom will be part of the Westmeath senior football management team next year.

Dolan joins Westmeath set-up in big boost

Kieran Galvin

Published: Wed 22 Dec 2021, 2:19 PM

Last updated: Wed 22 Dec 2021, 2:30 PM

Westmeath football legend Dessie Dolan has joined Jack Cooney’s management team for the 2022 season.

Dolan is widely regarded as the most valuable Westmeath footballer of his generation and undoubtedly one of the county’s greatest ever players.

The addition of Dolan comes as a major boost to Westmeath football, with former teammates John Keane and Cathal Mullin also part of the set-up.

Dolan and former Rosemount star Keane have been close friends for several years. Mullin, an All-Ireland U-21 medallist as Westmeath goalkeeper in 1999, was a Garrycastle colleague of Dessie for several years.

Coosan native Dolan won a Leinster SFC medal with Westmeath in 2004 during a historic season when both he and Keane were rewarded with All-Stars. Current Westmeath manager Jack Cooney was a selector with that successful team, managed by the renowned and sadly departed Páidí Ó Sé.

A winner of eight Westmeath senior championship medals with Garrycastle, Dolan has represented Ireland in the International Rules series on a number of occasions.

Dessie was a selector, along with being a player, when Garrycastle won the Westmeath senior football title in 2019. The team manager was Dessie’s younger brother Gary, with Keane also part of the set-up as a coach.

Under virtually the same management team, Garrycastle came extremely close to winning the Flanagan Cup again this year, with Dessie coming out of retirement to feature as a substitute in the drawn county final against St Loman’s, Mullingar.

Dolan also has plenty of coaching experience with teams from Moate Community School, where he works as a teacher.

A respected pundit with RTE, both on television and radio, Dolan is expected to combine his media duties alongside his new role with Westmeath.

Westmeath will compete in Division 3 of the Allianz Football League in 2022, having been relegated in unlucky fashion earlier this year.

Cooney’s charges will be aiming to secure promotion back to Division 2, and their first league game is at home to Wicklow on Sunday, January 30.

In the 2022 Leinster SFC, Westmeath have been drawn against Longford, who are now managed by Billy O’Loughlin.

Interestingly, O’Loughlin had a spell with current Westmeath champions St Loman’s, coming on as a sub in the 2017 Leinster club final against Moorefield. Another interesting connection is that O’Loughlin’s father Declan was a selector with the Laois team defeated by Westmeath in the memorable 2004 Leinster final.