After a five-year absence, the Westmeath GAA football club in New York returned to competition this year. Secretary Vinny Gavin and team manager Michael Stones were happy to talk to Hogan Stand about goings on in the new club. 

When former Westmeath footballer Vinny Gavin decided to reform the Westmeath football club in New York earlier this year, he could scarcely have imagined the response he would get to the idea.

Starting out in May with just three players, including himself, Gavin quickly saw his numbers swell to 35 and, while Westmeath are still awaiting their first win in their 'second coming', he is delighted with how things have gone so far.

"We've come a long way since May," the former St. Loman's, Mullingar star proudly reflects.

"The club disbanded in 2005 after losing to Kerry in a SFC semi-final and I went to the county board at the start of this year asking if I could revive it. They told me that it would have to be a new club, which meant that we couldn't bring back players from the old club who are now playing with other clubs in New York. So we were basically starting from scratch.

"We had only three players at the start - our captain Gary Moore, Ray Keenan and myself. Ray and I transferred from Offaly, and they were the only transfers we were allowed at the time. But over a very short of period, we managed to recruit players not just from Westmeath but from all over Ireland. We now have a panel of 35 and that's something I'm obviously very pleased about considering where we were a few months ago."

Westmeath's return to competition means there are now 10 clubs participating in the New York JFC. The other clubs are: NYPD, Cavan, Tyrone, Rockland, Celtics, Monaghan, St. Raymond's, Donegal and St. Barnaba's.

"We haven't won a game yet, but the main thing is that we are back playing. The hardest part was getting the club going again after a five-year absence," says Vinny, who represented the Lake County at minor, under 21 and senior level, playing in All-Ireland qualifier games against Antrim and Fermanagh in 2002.

Vinny managed Westmeath in their first four games before handing over the reins to Michael Stones. A native of Kilbeggan, Michael was goalkeeper with the old Westmeath club in 2004 and was only too happy to get involved again.

"It's great to see the club back. All the lads are putting in a big effort, despite the fact that results haven't gone our way," he enthuses.

"It's a completely new club - the only survivors from the old club are myself, my brother James and Ray Claffey. James scored the equalising goal in the 2002 JFC semi-final against Roscommon which sent the game to extra-time and went on to win the final. "We've got great support from so many people, especially from our sponsors Reicor Construction, which is a company owned by Gerry Reilly and Jim McCormack, who are both from Westmeath. PJ Quinn of Meldrum Construction has also been a huge help to us."

While most of the squad are natives of the Lake County, there are also players from Offaly, Kerry, Leitrim, Galway and Down. Five players have transferred from Offaly, whose football club folded earlier this year (the Faithful County remain one of the top hurling clubs in the Big Apple, however).

"We don't have that many big-name players, but we have guys who have had success with their clubs back in Ireland," Vinny explains.

"Colin Whyte won Leinster minor and senior championship medals with Westmeath and was a top player with St. Loman's before he came out here. Our captain Gary Moore is a son of Ned Moore, who captained Mullingar Shamrocks to a four-in-a-row of Westmeath SFC titles in the 1990s, and Derek Canning is a brother of Aidan Canning, who captained Westmeath's 1999 All-Ireland winning under 21 team."

Vinny and his American-born wife Megan are the new club's secretary and treasurer respectively, while he was thrilled that New York GAA stalwart Tom Nugent accepted the position of chairman. Tom's tremendous contribution to the GAA in the Big Apple was recognised last year when he was Guest of Honour for the New York county board's annual banquet.

The Raharney native was involved with the both Westmeath hurling and football clubs when they were highly successful in New York. Regarded first and foremost as a hurling man, he was involved with Westmeath teams which reached 11 New York county finals, winning the senior hurling titles in 1990, '92, '93 and '96. Westmeath captured the double in '96 by winning the senior football and hurling titles. Tom has also been involved with the New York hurling teams, first as a selector and more recently as the team's skills coach.

"Tom is a hugely respected figure in New York GAA circles and we are delighted to have him as a chairman. He has been a tremendous help to us," adds Vinny, who also singles kitman Richie Colton out for special praise.

Under Michael Stones' watch, the Westmeath team trains twice weekly at Tibbet's Park in Yonkers. And while it won't happen this year, his ambition is to win the JFC title and lead the club back to the senior ranks.

"It's tough at the moment because we're still only finding our feet and money is tight enough," he says.

"We have lads working all over the city and it can be difficult for them to make training sometimes. But I suppose the same applies to all the clubs in New York. Our long-term goal is to get up to the same level as the top senior clubs like Kerry, Donegal and Leitrim. We were at that level before the club folded in 2005 and that's the challenge for us."

Michael has fond memories of Westmeath's last JFC success in 2002. He recalls: "PJ Quinn, who I mentioned earlier and is a fellow Kilbeggan man, was manager at the time and he put a lot of his own money into bringing out players from home to play with us.

"We had Enda Muldoon from Derry and Martin Flanagan, Aidan Canning and PJ Ward who were playing for the Westmeath county team at the time. Eoinie Farrell and Tom Browne were also playing for us that year. Like PJ Ward, they won Leinster minor medals with Westmeath in 2000. We went on to reach the SFC semi-final the following year, only to lose to Donegal."

Westmeath have traditionally been one of New York's strongest GAA units. They have a particularly proud hurling history and fielded some of the finest hurlers the county has ever produced during the 1980s and 1990s, including Pat Dalton, Willie Lowry, Peter Kirby, Ger Jackson, Eamonn Corcoran (all Castletown-Geoghegan), Brian McCabe (Fr. Dalton's), Michael Daly (Brownstown), Gerry Gillen (Cullion), Seamus McKeogh (Raharney) and Mick Cosgrave and Tommy 'Jogger' Doyle (both Lough Lene Gaels).

After losing three SHC finals in-a-row between 1987 and '89 to Tipperary (twice) and Galway, Westmeath finally made the breakthrough in 1990 when Galway were defeated in the final. They won back-to-back titles at Tipperary's expense and were victorious again in 1996 when Kilkenny were overcome in the final.

Preparations are already underway for the new club's dinner dance in November, which its members hope will become an annual event.

"We'll be organising various fundraising events between now and then," Michael explains.

"We will be presenting awards for Club Person of the Year and Player of the Year. We're expecting to have 300 guests at the dinner dance and are hoping to fly out one of the Westmeath senior footballers to make the presentations."

Anyone interested in playing for the Westmeath club in New York can contact Michael Stones on 0019143570749 or Vinny Gavin on 0016462251348 Tweet

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