Westmeath's Thomas Cleary NAME: Thomas Cleary DATE OF BIRTH: 30-12-77 HEIGHT: 6' 1" WEIGHT: 14st CLUB: The Downs COUNTY: Westmeath NOTABLE SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS (GAELIC): Leinster and All-Ireland medals for Westmeath Minors in 1995; Club Championship medals at every grade except senior; Under 14 Leinster Colleges medal for CBS Mullingar NOTABLE SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS (OTHER): Athletics Leinster medals, basketball Leinster medal INTERCOUNTY DEBUT: Westmeath v Wexford 1997 FAVOURITE GROUNDS: Croke Park, Dublin; Cusack Park, Mullingar; O'Connor Park, Tullamore HOBBIES: Golf, training, socialising, watching videos FAVOURITE POSITION: Centre forward, corner forward FAVOURITE PLAYERS: Maurice Fitzgerald, Tony Boyle, Peter Canavan, Paul Curran INFLUENCES ON YOUR CAREER: My family, my father in particular, Luke Dempsey and Eunan McCormack THE HIGH POINT OF YOUR CAREER TO DATE: Winning an All-Ireland Minor medal with Westmeath BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Losing to Meath in the Leinster Under 21 Championship 1997 and losing to DIT in the Trench Cup Final while playing for Dundalk RTC OTHER PLAYERS WITH A PROMISING FUTURE: Cathal Kane, Martin Murtagh, Fergal Murray, Damien Gavin, Aidan Lennon, Kenny McKinley WAYS OF IMPROVING THE GAME: Advertisements for players, stop trying to change the rules of the game and let players play to their ability DISLIKES ABOUT THE GAA:Don't look after players well enough and bad management in some cases DO YOU HAVE ANY RELATIVES INVOLVED IN GAELIC GAMES?: My father was a county hurler and footballer at every grade PERSON YOU WOULD MOST LIKE TO MEET: Michael Jordan of the all trades FAVOURITE PERSONAL SAYING OR TERM OF ABUSE: 'Go way from me now, pretty lively I tell ya' PET HATES: Talking on the phone for too long, taking orders especially stupid ones FAVOURITE MUSIC: Oasis FAVOURITE FILM: Dragon Heart IDEAL DATE: Cameron Diaz HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED? If I had the chance I would like to be remembered for winning an All-Ireland senior medal, as well as minor. I would also like to be remembered as a big match player and a clinical finisher Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 27th February 1998 Vol 8 No 9 Tweet

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