‘Without great players you'll win nothing’ says Dempsey as heady days are recalled

Former Westmeath minor, U21 and senior football manager, Luke Dempsey, has spoken of the invaluable support he received from both the supporters club and the county board during a hugely successful era in the mid 1990s and early noughties.

Addressing the big crowd at the launch of Mick Duffy’s book, The Making of Memories, in the Annebrook House Hotel, Mullingar, Dempsey said the players of that period were very well catered for.

Duffy’s book is critical of the county board’s support, but Dempsey recalled how he and the minor, U21 and senior sides he managed had the support of great Westmeath people.

Mr Duffy’s role on what was an excellent supporters’ group from 2001 right through the 2004 era and up until his retirement in 2008 was acknowledged.

Luke Dempsey recalled how he has been training teams since 1994 when he got involved with Ballinabrackey in Meath, from where his wife Mary hails. He was subsequently asked by Michael McHugh to take on the Westmeath minors in the autumn of 1994 and he found it a daunting proposition at first, but with the support and encouragement of his wife, he got involved with the county and the rest in history.

“I worked with the likes of Adrian Murray, who is since deceased, and Michael McHugh and the minor board at that time. I was so naive about what it entailed, but I went about organising challenge games here, there and everywhere, and there was never an obstacle put in my way. We travelled to Mitchelstown and Galway, for example, to play challenge matches and take part in different tournaments,” he recalled.

Luke acknowledged he and his management team had much to learn about the Leinster minor championship of the time, but they got over Wexford in Portlaoise after the Slaneysiders agreed to play the game at that venue as the two counties were also in the Leinster U21 decider on the same day.

“We scraped a victory that day and it was really from then that the players got a little self-belief and went on to enjoy what was a magnificent year. The joy it brought to the county and the crowds that turned up in the Mullingar town park to welcome us home will never be forgotten,” he said.

Luke admitted managing the teams and all that went with it was challenging and he recalled getting a phone call from a selector of the Clare minor hurling team asking where Westmeath had gone on holiday after their 1995 success. That led to the establishment of the supporters club in the county to ensure finance was raised so that players got the very best treatment.

“There was never an obstacle put in our way; we were treated so well at minor and U21 level by the different county boards that I worked with, whether that was Paddy Collins or Denis Coyne (since deceased). They were really, really great Westmeath people,” he said.

Westmeath, like other counties such as Leitrim, eventually saw the benefit in having a supporters club to assist and in 2001, Mick Duffy was one of the people approached.

“It was seven great years for the county, not winning every year, but it was Westmeath people who were just mad about football. We were now up there after winning the All-Ireland (U21) in 1999 with all those great players, like Michael Ennis, Dessie Dolan and David O’Shaughnessy. You will win nothing without great players, that’s a fact,” he said.

The big thing the supporters club had was their love of Westmeath and Luke, who only came to the county in 1982 as a teacher, saw that maroon was in people’s veins, as he put it, and they were passionate about the county.

“They absolutely drove on with the supporters club and it was all in support of travelling and players having the very best, whether that was gear or whatever,” he recalled, acknowledging the outstanding support they received from the county board at the time and how they worked to a common goal.

Following 2001, when Westmeath senior footballers reached the All-Ireland quarter final through the qualifiers, and 2002 when they battled in Division 1 of the National Football League, it was on to 2003 and Dempsey’s final year with the senior side. Westmeath did well, but just couldn’t make the breakthrough and each year old foes Meath proved the stumbling block, winning that infamous replay in Dempsey’s final season.

“The common denominator was Meath each year, we just couldn’t get over them. By 2003 the feeling I had was that the players wanted somebody else and it was time to move on. And I think that was a great decision in hindsight when you think of such a character as Páidí (Ó Sé) coming down here and throwing his whole lot in with Tomás, and good selectors, and how clever he was to approach Mick, whose work he probably heard of,” remarked Dempsey.

After such a successful and memorable period in Westmeath, Luke was much sought-after in places like Carlow and Longford, where he enjoyed stints as senior football manager. He later returned to the club scene in Westmeath and led St Loman’s, Mullingar to great success, including a Leinster club final in 2017. Dempsey also led St Joseph's Secondary School, Rochfortbridge to Leinster Schools glory in 2020, defeating a strong Naas CBS side.

“The one big reason I got back was to meet Westmeath people. When you are working in Longford or Carlow, you are not socialising with people in the county you’re living in. That was a great success, not so much for the victories, but for meeting the Mullingar people during those five years with St Loman’s. I saw that again after last Sunday (the St Loman’s versus Killoe Young Emmets game in Pearse Park, Longford).

“I love the whole aura of meeting with people of similar interests of bringing teams on,” he said.

Dempsey said the input of Mr Duffy and the supporters group has been central to Westmeath’s progress over the years: “All groups like county boards need the support of groups like that which Mick Duffy led in 2001, and what he did from then on was an integral part of Westmeath’s success in 2004,” he added.