Gary Connaughton recalls a feat that suggests Saturday’s clash is no foregone conclusionAs Westmeath goalkeeper Gary Connaughton enjoyed a famous victory over Derry in 2004 before losing to them in 2010. The counties face each other again this weekend. Photograph: James Crombie/InphoWestmeath and Derry have only played each other twice in the history of the All-Ireland SFC and Connaughton was the Lake County goalkeeper on both occasions – 2004 and 2010.
One of the coaches departing Westmeath that morning carried a group of under-14 Tubberclair players, including a kid who would eventually become the county’s most decorated goalkeeper. “We never really had anything to celebrate growing up, we were just going to Enniskillen more because it was against Derry,” adds Connaughton. “They were the All-Ireland champions, Westmeath didn’t even have a sponsor for the jersey.”
“By the end of the afternoon Westmeath men were being borne aloft on broad shoulders,” the report stated. “So that win over Derry in 1994 will always stick with me, a lot of things happened for Westmeath in the years after.”“It was a tide-turning game in a way for Westmeath, because there were plenty of good footballers in the county, but the team had been down the divisions for too long,” he explains.
Thereafter, the Westmeath footballers grew in stature. The appointment of Páidí Ó Sé as senior manager in advance of the 2004 season demonstrated how far their stock had risen in just a decade. “The first meeting we had with Páidí was in the Citywest Hotel in Dublin and from day one he told us he was here to win a Leinster title with us.