Denis Coyne - Westmeath GAA RIP

[AZOffaly]

Kinnegad publican and long-serving Westmeath administrator Denis Coyne has passed away suddenly.
He served as Westmeath's County Board chairman for 6 years in the 1970s, having previously been the Minor Board chair in the Lake County.
The Coralstown/Kinnegad clubman was then part of the Football Board during the most successful period in history, where an All-Ireland Under-21 title was won along with Leinster titles at minor, under-21 and senior level.
In a statement on their website, Westmeath County Board have thanked Denis for his five decades of service and say he'll be 'sadly missed'.


I remember calling into his pub in Kinnegad numerous times in my childhood on trips up to Croker in the days before the new roads. I also remember him from that era when Westmeath won their underage All Irelands. RIP. A great Westmeath football man.

[thejuice]

Drank their a few times and it's a regular haunt for relatives of mine. People in the wider family would have known him personally and some would have grown up with him and played alongside him for Kinnegad.

RIP

[Croí na hÉireann]

Rest in peace Dinny, a man of your calibre will be sadly missed in Westmeath GAA. Fed a packed pub with endless trays of sandwiches when we were waiting for the team to arrive over the bridge with the Delaney Cup on the 24th of July 2004. Did trojan work before it ever became popular to be associated with Westmeath GAA.

Below is a reprint of a interview with Denis Coyne which appeared in the Westmeath Yearbook, Maroon & White, back in 2006.

Thanks for the memories
Denis Coyne could hardly have envisaged the success Westmeath would enjoy when he became football board chairman in 1997. Here, the highly respected Kinnegad publican reflects on his nine-year term in the chair which ended last December.

I felt lucky to be involved. After all, it was the most successful decade in the history of Westmeath football."
So says Denis Coyne, who stepped down as Westmeath football board chairman last December after nine momentous years for the Lake County. During his time in the chair, Westmeath enjoyed unprecedented success, winning Leinster and All-Ireland under 21 titles in 1999, Leinster under 21 and minor titles in 2000, National League Division 2 titles in 2001 and 2003, and best of all, a first Leinster senior title in 2004.

"It's been a marvellous decade, we've been very successful since winning the All-Ireland minor title in 1995," the Kinnegad publican proudly states.

"When I succeeded Pat Lynagh as chairman in 1997, I knew that there were exciting times ahead but what we have achieved since then has surpassed all my expectations. I consider myself lucky to have been around and involved in these great successes, but in times like these, I remember the bad days. I remember having to take players literally from their beds to fulfill National League fixtures.

"I also remember dedicated players who have represented Westmeath down the years, too numerous to mention, who never won anything."

Denis, who previously served as minor board chairman in 1972 and '73, and county board chairman from 1974 to '80, notes that Westmeath football has come a long way since then.

"The contrast between now and then couldn't be much greater. There was hardly any interest in the county team that time. I can remember in my first year as county board chairman travelling to Newcastle for a league match against Down. We had 16 players, one selector and just one supporter, who was Jim Grehan from Ballinagore.

"It's amazing the changes that have taken place since then. We're now bringing 2,000-3,000 supporters to away games and while the team's success has been largely responsible for this, I think the advent of live TV and the more affluent society we live in today has also contributed to the increased interest in the GAA."

While acknowledging that the All-Ireland minor win of 1995 was a major breakthrough for Westmeath, Coyne feels the 1999 All-Ireland under 21 triumph was the real springboard to success at senior level.

"I didn't hold much hope for the '95 minors to be honest with you. It is rare that senior success comes from a win like that. Look at Mayo. They have a great tradition at minor level, but have never been able to translate that onto the senior scene.
"People will say that Tyrone and Laois have benefited from winning All-Ireland minor titles, but the difference between them and us is that they won more than one title. They have been consistently producing good minor teams since the late 1990s, whereas our underage success has dried up somewhat.

"Winning the All-Ireland under 21 in '99 was far more beneficial from the senior team's point of view. We got a lot of those lads through to senior and they figured prominently in our Leinster senior success of two years ago.

"To be successful, you need a certain amount of luck and we got that in all the victories we've had. We had it in '95 when Derry had a goal disallowed in the final. We had it again in '99 when Kildare missed an easy free in the last minute to beat us in the under 21 first round replay at Mullingar. And we also had it in 2004 with Brian Morley's 'point that never was' against Offaly in Croke Park."

Denis says that Westmeath GAA will forever be indebted to Luke Dempsey for his achievements with the All-Ireland winning minor and under 21 teams, and for transforming the county's fortunes at senior level. However, he doesn't believe Westmeath would have ended its 120-year wait for a Leinster senior success without Paidi O Se on the sideline.

"Luke was the man who instilled a winning mentality in the players and what he achieved in a county where there was no tradition of success was remarkable. He desperately wanted to replicate the successes he had at minor and under 21 level with the senior team, but Meath proved to be a real thorn in his side. He got no luck whatsoever against them and after we lost in the replay in 2003, I think the time had come for change.

"We managed to secure the services of Paidi O Se and, looking back on it now, most people would agree that this was an inspired appointment. I'm convinced that we wouldn't have made the long-awaited breakthrough at senior level without him. He got that extra bit out of the players that was needed to win Leinster."

Coyne laments the fact that the same determination or hunger didn't appear to be in Paidi or the players last season. "When Paidi took the job, he probably felt that it would take two years to win a Leinster title. But having achieved it in year one, the same desire wasn't there last year. The same thing could be said for a lot of the players as well."

Denis, who has also had a long association with the Coralstown/Kinnegad club, has doubts about Westmeath repeating the heroics of 2004 in the coming season, suggesting that it could take time for some of the new players to blend into the team.
"We have an excellent manager in Tomas O Flatharta and he has a good panel of players to work with. He has brought up to 10 new players into the panel this year and it could take a year or two for them to find their feet. When that happens, we could win the Leinster championship again.

"I'm very concerned about the lack of underage success we've had since 2000. We used to win the Fr Manning and Gerry Reilly Cups on a regular basis, but that's not happening anymore. I can't put my finger of why this is so at a time when nearly every young boy in the county aspires to playing for Westmeath.

"Now that we've finally won a Leinster senior title, I'd like to see us win another one and possibly go on to challenge for an All-Ireland. The 'big three' of Tyrone, Armagh and Kerry are way out on their own at the moment but that won't always be the case.

"I often wonder what might have happened if we had won our All-Ireland quarter-final matches in 2001 and 2004. We had a nine-point lead on Meath in 2001, but let them back into it. I feel we had an excellent chance of getting to the All-Ireland final in 2004, but we were guilty of taking our eye off the ball after winning the Leinster title and lost to Derry in very disappointing circumstances. If we had beaten Derry, I think we might have got on a roll again," he ruefully reflects.
Coyne stresses the importance of building on the success of the last decade. "It's vital that we capitalize on this and keep the momentum going. It would be tragic if we went back to the bad days, but I can't see my successor (Des Maguire of Mullingar Shamrocks) allowing that to happen. He'll be striving to keep Westmeath going forward.

"One thing I think we seriously need to address is the difficulties facing our club players. With the increase in inter-county activity, they're in danger of getting squeezed out and we have to cater for them better. The time may come when clubs will have to do without their county players in all competitions, and they've got to be prepared for this very real possibility."
Denis is also keen to see inter-county players better compensated for the time and effort they put into training and playing.
"I would like to see them compensated for their effort, time and expense, but only on an equal basis through a county team. One of the biggest changes I've noticed since 1997 is the level of commitment county players are now giving. It's got to the stage where they have no social life anymore and they head to the gym instead. If they are properly compensated, there should be no need to go down the professional road.

"Success doesn't come cheap, and every inter-county manager in the country now has a huge backroom team consisting of physical trainers, physios, statisticians and dieticians. While success costs money, what I have found is that it is far easier to fundraise when a team is going well than when it is struggling," he concludes.