Cooney strategy vital for Westmeath

HAD everything gone according to plan for Jack Cooney, he would be knee deep in blueprints and nappies now, not assisting Paídí Ó Sé through the Kerryman’s first footballing assignment outside his native county.

Father to a one-year old daughter and with a son on the way, Cooney also had a new house due to be built down the country when his three-year term as a selector to Luke Dempsey came to an end last autumn. It seemed a good time to walk away, all told.

Then a temporary delay on the house eased the demands on his time, leaving him with more hours to spare than he had envisaged. When Ó Sé arrived on the scene the dye was cast. The football bug is a hard one to shake, the more so when Westmeath still feel like they have unfinished business to take care of.

Cooney’s been bitten more than most though. He played his last game for the county four years ago but within months he was swapping the jersey for a tracksuit and a beat on the sideline when he became a selector to the senior team under Dempsey.

If anyone is in a position to appraise the differences between Ó Sé’s Westmeath and Dempsey’s then it’s Cooney. Asking him to compare this year to last may be a tad unfair, but, while he speaks with a diplomat’s tongue, he doesn’t shirk the question either.

“Westmeath football is indebted to Luke for everything he did at minor, U21 and then giving us our best ever year at senior in 2001,” Cooney explains after some hard moments’ thought.

“I’d be the first man to say that and I enjoyed every minute with him for the three years.

“Players gave a great effort under Luke at all times and with a high profile manager like Paídí coming in it was always going to be the same.

“Players responded to the new management, to Paídí’s experience of winning All-Irelands with Kerry as a player and manager. You’ll have that any time a new manager comes on board and when it’s someone like Paídí it’s be even more so.”

Ó Sé’s lustre in the county may have faded (temporarily) after the teething problems in the league campaign but the bottom line is that Westmeath maintained their Division One status, something they failed to do two years ago.

Even accounting for the injury epidemic plaguing them in 2002, that represents progress.

“You have to be realistic and we set out to stay in Division One. We never had any thoughts about semi-finals or anything like that. Division One is a big step up and we did okay, we stayed up, even if it was down to the last day. That’s progress for us because we didn’t manage to stay up the last time,” says Cooney.

“What we need to do now is consolidate and improve in the league next year. Players can be anxious playing at that level week in, week out when they’re not used to it. They will have another year under their belts next year and be all the better for it.”

Still, there is no escaping the fact that the feelgood factor in the county has dissipated since January. Attendances that reached 12,000 for O’Byrne Cup games at the start of the year dwindled as alarmingly as the team’s performances on the pitch.

What do you expect? “We had great attendances for the O’Byrne Cup and the start of the league. Later on attendances were down as we didn’t do so well, but I wouldn’t say it was a case of supporters deserting us.

“That happens in every county when results aren’t going your way. We’ll have a good following in Croke Park on Sunday, we usually do.”

So, what to expect of Westmeath at HQ tomorrow? More of the same, to be honest. Run your finger down through the team-sheet and, with a few exceptions, most of the names will be familiar from years gone by.

Don’t expect anything other than their customary short game to be on show either. It may have raised the ire of many a critic this past five years but this team has been too long on the go together now to be trading in their spots.

“Every county has a style that is a kind of a fingerprint and our players have played a certain type of way for the last few years,” Cooney explains.

“It’s difficult to ask players to change that style when they’ve been used to it for so long. Instead, it’s sometimes easier to get them playing the same style but doing it smarter, applying it that bit better.

“Style of football is just one aspect of the game anyway. Individual players giving the commitment and making the sacrifices is where it all starts. Personal fitness, diet, rest, they’re all vital towards allowing players being able to do their best.

“You have to have a basic level of fitness, strength and stamina before you can begin to cut it at the highest level.

“At the end of the day, training, like football, is an individual thing. The individual makes the difference.”

And yet, it’s the collective Cooney admires in Offaly, that intangible boost every player when he pulls on the county jersey.

Add to that, their neighbours’ healthy winning habit over the last few months and it promises to be no easy task for Westmeath.

“We’d always keep an eye on Offaly, there’s that tradition there as neighbours,” Cooney says.

“They have this huge pride in the jersey in Offaly, it’s almost like a 16th man to them every time they play as a team.

“Gerry Fahy has continued that and he has some great players to work with, like McManus, Roy Malone, Colm Quinn and Cathal Daly. Pound for pound that man is one of the best players in the country.

“They have great talent and it’s balanced between experience and young lads’ mad hungry to get in and play.”

That hunger isn’t confined to Offaly though. Cooney’s inability to walk away is evidence of that.