Arguably the most famous footballer this county has ever produced is Mick Carley. Regarded as one of the finest players of his era, he shares his recollections on an illustrious career with Maroon and White. Even now, some two decades after he brought his footballing career to a close, gaels far and wide still talk about Mick Carley. One of the greatest players of his generation, the Tyrrellspass colossus was a sportsman of exceptional talent whose place in Westmeath GAA history is an honoured one. Carley's career spanned almost a quarter of a century, during which time he enjoyed remarkable success at club level. While success wasn't as forthcoming at inter-county level, he was a regular at midfield for Leinster in the early 1960s, with whom he garnered his most prized possessions - two Railway Cup medals. Although football was part and parcel of everyday life for Mick during his childhood years, he claims that the late Micheál O'Hehir was his earliest influence. "I remember going to my uncle Ned's house every Sunday to listen to Micheál O'Hehir on the wireless," he recalls. "I hadn't been all that interested in football before then but O'Hehir's commentaries soon changed that. I loved the excitement of it all and dreamed of playing in Croke Park someday myself." After completing his primary education at Tyrrellspass National School, Mick attended St. Mary's CBS, Mullingar where his immense footballing talent first came to notice. Whilst in First Year, he used to look up to a Leaving Cert student named Frank O'Leary. O'Leary, whose father was a Garda Superintendent, was St. Mary's star player at the time and later went on to enjoy distinguished inter-county careers with Westmeath, Kerry and Mayo. Carley didn't leave St. Mary's empty-handed - he won a Leinster Colleges Senior 'B' medal in 1955 at the expense of St. Peter's, Wexford. At around this time, he was also part of a successful Under 17 Championship-winning team, which was an exclusive underage club based in Kilbeggan. Mick's adult career began in earnest in 1956 when he broke onto the St. Mary's, Rochfortbridge intermediate team. Two years later, he won an Intermediate Championship memento with the 'Bridge before embarking on a new club career with the Mental Hospital (now St. Loman's). Mick's career blossomed with the Mullingar outfit and he was an inspiring figure on their County Senior Championship-winning teams of 1961 and 1963. In 1968, Carley joined The Downs, then an emerging force in senior football. He played with them for seven years, winning five Senior County Championships in '68, '69, '70, '72 and '74. In the two latter years, he captained the team. He would also have captained The Downs to provincial glory in 1972, had they not lost the Leinster Club Championship decider to Dublin kingpins, St. Vincent's. In 1975, Mick returned to his native Tyrrellspass (a club hadn't existed in the village when he first started playing) where he played out the remaining years of his career. He had been prominent with them both as a player and as a manager, guiding them to Intermediate and Feis Cup successes. In more recent years, he had been highly involved in underage coaching at the club. At inter-county level, Carley made his senior debut in 1957 and remained an integral member of the Westmeath set-up for 20 years. He had the distinction, shared by only two others, of lining out for both the Westmeath minor and senior teams on the same day in the Leinster Championship, a feat he achieved in 1958. Louth provided the opposition for Westmeath in both games and Mick played both at full back. Carley's performances for his county in those early years were of such quality that he was selected to play for Leinster in the Railway Cups of 1961, '62 and '63. By then, he had developed into a top class centrefielder and it was in this position that he recorded his greatest achievements. In the finals of '61 and '62, Leinster defeated Munster and Ulster respectively but Ulster exacted revenge in the '63 decider. It's worth noting that Mick also had the honour of being selected on the Rest of Ireland team which took on the Combined Universities in 1961. In 1966, he was selected for a tour of the USA, on a team of talented players drawn from the so-called 'weaker counties' of that era. These games were known as the Cardinal Cushing Games. In the mid-seventies, Mick's inter-county career drew to a close. Looking back on it now, his biggest regret is that Westmeath failed to make the breakthrough following their unlucky defeat to Kerry in the National League semi-final of 1969. "That was definitely our best chance," he says. "If we had beaten Kerry that day, I'm sure we would have gone on to greater things. That Westmeath team included a good few members of the minor team which went to the All-Ireland final in 1963 and it had great potential. Unfortunately, the potential was never tapped into and this, coupled with bad organisation, resulted in us making little or no headway." Strangely, Mick blames himself for losing the same game to the Kingdom. "I wasn't fully fit for that game and to this day, I'm convinced we would have won it if I had been able to stay with Mick O'Connell in the second half. "Dom Murtagh (Mick's midfield partner) had been doing very well against O'Connell in the first half and I had also been faring okay against Dinjo Crowley. However, the management instructed me to mark O'Connell in the second half and I just wasn't able for him. If I hadn't been smothered with the 'flu for three weeks beforehand, I'm certain it would have been a different story." If that particular meeting with Kerry was a game Mick would prefer to forget, what was his finest hour in the maroon jersey? "It would definitely have to be a League game we played against Leitrim in Cusack Park," he opines. "I can't remember the exact year and a lot of people won't remember the game I'm referring to, but I couldn't put a foot wrong in it. Everything I attempted seemed to come off." Even though Mick's 20 years of loyal service to Westmeath didn't yield tangible reward (all that he has to show for his efforts is two O'Byrne Cup medals), he takes immense pride from having played with some highly talented individuals. "It's a mystery to think that we didn't get anywhere with the calibre of players we had at our disposal. I played county football with some great players, among them being Georgie Keane, Brian Kavanagh (Rosemount), Paddy Cooney (St. Finian's), Dessie and Tommy Dolan, Mickey Scanlon, Jimmy Nugent (Athlone), Dom Murtagh and Jimmy Corroon (The Downs), Pat Buckley (Maryland), Jim Fallon and Pat Bradley (St. Mary's)." As for the best players Mick has played against, he singles Paddy Doherty of Down out for special praise. "Paddy Doherty was the best player I've ever seen or played against," he remarks. "He was a brilliant half forward who had everything a footballer could wish for. Another player from that great Down team of the sixties I had great admiration for was Jim McCartan. He wasn't far behind Doherty in terms of footballing ability." Nowadays, Mick considers himself to be just an ordinary football supporter. He takes a keen interest in the affairs of Tyrrellspass, whom his son Mick Jnr. lines out for. He also keeps a close eye on how Westmeath are progressing but admits that he hasn't seen them play since last year's Leinster Championship showdown with Laois at Croke Park. About Tyrrellspass, he says: "Considering the huge amount of effort they have put in over the past five or six years, I think they deserve to win a Senior Championship at this stage. They should have won one in '94 but were very unfortunate to run into what was an exceptionally strong Mullingar Shamrocks in that year's county final. "They have some excellent players like Mark Staunton, David Murphy, Colm Murphy, Martin Flanagan and John O'Brien (all of whom Mick coached as youngsters) but they seem to lacking one or two leaders. If they could unearth these sort of players, I'm sure the breakthrough wouldn't be too far away." Despite Westmeath's recent failure to secure promotion to Division One of the National League, Mick still feels they are heading in the right direction under Brendan Lowry. "I thought they were a little unlucky to miss out on promotion because they had been chalking up big scores before the Roscommon defeat. Lowry brought them on a good bit in '98 but, in saying that, I thought that they let Laois, and Michael Lawlor in particular, away with murder in Croke Park. He continues: "Not getting promotion is a bit of a setback because it means that they will be playing the weaker teams next season. I'm looking forward to seeing them put a good run together in the forthcoming Leinster Championship before then, though. With players like O'Connell, Dolan, Heavin, Conway and Flanagan all maturing, they shouldn't be too far off the mark." One cannot help wondering that if Mick Carley was still in his prime, would Westmeath be aiming for just "a good run?" Tweet

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