Seamus Conroy holds the rare distinction of having played senior and minor championship football for Westmeath on the same day. Here, The Downs stalwart reflects on his playing career and talks about his role as head steward at Cusack Park.

It may be over 25 years since Seamus Conroy last pulled on a Westmeath jersey, but The Downs legend still retains the same passion for the game as he did at the height of his playing career.
One of the top backs in Leinster during the 1970s and 1980s, Conroy was a mainstay of The Downs defence for over two decades, during which he won three senior championship medals. He was also an automatic choice on the Westmeath senior team for 14 years and served a two-year spell as the Lake County's manager in the late 1980s.
As head of stewarding at Cusack Park, Seamus remains a familiar face to GAA supporters in the county. He has also remained involved with The Downs as a member of the finance committee which has been responsible for developing the club's impressive new 450-seater stand.
Hailing from Coralstown, Seamus' first allegiances were to the old Kinnegad club and not to The Downs, a fact which may surprise many. He was just 16 when he lined out at half back on the Kinnegad team that claimed intermediate championship honours in 1970 at Ballymore's expense.
The following year, he transferred to The Downs in what was an exchange deal between the two clubs.
"The late Mick Sweeney, who had been playing for The Downs, wanted to return to his native Kinnegad so an agreement was reached between the two clubs with me going in the opposite direction," he explains.
Seamus, who hurled with Clonkill up to under 21 level, had no problem making the switch as many of his school friends played with The Downs.
"I had known a lot of the lads from my primary school days - that time Coralstown and The Downs competed as one school in Cumann na mBunscol. Later, I played for the St. Agnes' and St. Finian's underage amalgamations which were made up of players from Coralstown, The Downs and Kinnegad."
Conroy's leadership qualities on the football field first came to notice in 1969 when he captained Columba College, Killucan to a Westmeath Vocational Schools final appearance. By then, he had already represented his county at under 16 level.
A winner of three under 21 championship medals with St. Finian's, Seamus made his senior debut for Westmeath in 1970 - a year before he made his senior bow for The Downs. In 1971, he became only the third man to play Leinster senior and minor championship football for Westmeath on the same day. Both games were against Meath in Tullamore with Conroy lining out in his favourite centre half back position in the minor game and at left corner back for the seniors.
"We lost both games, but it was still a great experience," he remembers.
"Fr Mattie Coleman from Castletown-Geoghegan and Mick Carley were the only players to have played for both the seniors and minors before me, and no-one has done it since. Jack Cooney played for the minors against Wexford in 1989 and was also part of the senior panel on the same day, but he didn't play in the senior game."
Seamus won his first senior championship medal in 1972 when The Downs defeated Athlone in the county final. The black and ambers also beat Athlone in 1974, giving Conroy his second championship memento.
One of the highlights of his career came in 1980 when he captained The Downs in their county final triumph over Kilbeggan. The Downs returned to the county decider in 1986, but lost to an emerging Mullingar Shamrocks outfit. The occasion proved doubly disappointing for Seamus as he also sustained a serious ankle injury. In spite of this, he remained an integral part of The Downs' senior set-up until 1993 when he decided to call it a day at the age of 40.
Conroy's inter-county career was not nearly as successful, with all he had to show for efforts being a National League medal, won in 1983 after Westmeath beat Louth in the final at Pairc Tailteann. Another highlight was beating the then All-Ireland champions Dublin in the Centenary Cup at Cusack Park in 1984.
Later that season, he donned the maroon jersey for the last time. He vividly recalls the occasion: "It was a Leinster championship game against Meath in Cusack Park and, not for the first time, they got the better of us.
"Bernard Flynn came on as a sub that day and I was marking him. It was his first championship game for Meath, whereas it was my last for Westmeath. I only found out recently when I was talking to Martin O'Connell that it was also his first championship game for Meath."
Seamus believes Westmeath had their best chance of making a breakthrough in 1981 when, after beating Longford in the first round of the Leinster championship, they lost narrowly to eventual All-Ireland finalists Offaly.
"We missed a penalty at a crucial time and that came back to haunt us," he ruefully reflects.
"Offaly went on to reach the All-Ireland final that year and stopped Kerry from winning the five-in-a-row the following year. We had a fine team which included the likes of Brendan Murray, Eamonn Coughlan and the Lowrys, Willie and Mick. Fr Cremin was manager at the time and he had brought a bit of professionalism to the set-up. But we still failed to make the breakthrough that we so desperately craved."
Seamus became Westmeath manager in 1988 and guided the county to its first O'Byrne Cup success in 24 years after beating Laois in the final. But the team was brought back down to earth with a bang when they lost to a Brendan Hackett-managed Longford in the Leinster championship a few weeks later.
In 1989, Westmeath beat Wexford in the Leinster championship by 3-9 to 1-7 before losing to Offaly by 1-6 to 1-8 in Tullamore.
"I probably went into management a bit sooner than I should have had. I had a young family at the time and even then, it was a very demanding job."
Like all Westmeath supporters, Seamus was thrilled by the county's groundbreaking achievements of the past decade, but with most of that team now retired from inter-county football, he is only too aware of the enormous rebuilding job which the aforementioned Brendan Hackett faces.
"The fans need to show patience over the next couple of years. There is a lot of rebuilding to be done and the new management deserve to be given a chance. There seems to be a nice crop of younger players coming along, but it's still a big ask to replace the older lads. It's disappointing, however, to think that a couple of lads have opted out when they still clearly have a lot to offer at inter-county level. Their experience would have proven invaluable to the younger players."
Conroy had two spells as manager of The Downs in the 1990s, and later served as a selector under Ray Smyth when they captured the Flanagan Cup in 2003 and 2005. It was entirely fitting that Seamus was involved in 2003 as the victory over Athlone (after a replay) bridged a 23-gap since The Downs' last championship triumph when he was captain. His eldest son Barry also had the honour of lifting the Flanagan Cup in 2005 when Garrycastle were overcome in the final.
Married to Rita, Seamus has three grown-up children - Barry, James and Jean. The two boys have inherited many of their father's football skills and were central figures in The Downs' 2003 and 2005 successes. Barry won an All-Ireland under 21 medal with Westmeath in 1999, while James was a member of the 2004 Leinster senior championship winning squad.
Employed by Patterson Pump Ireland in Mullingar, Seamus regularly acts as an umpire for fellow clubman Sean Carroll, who took charge of the All-Ireland club junior football final in Croke Park earlier this year. Sean's other umpires are Matt Carley, Kieran Carroll and Paddy Walsh (all The Downs), Padraig Gavin (St. Brigid's) and Tommy Duffy (Shandonagh).
Following the sudden death of St. Loman's clubman Pierce Butler last year, Seamus was appointed as head steward at Cusack Park. On big match days at the Mullingar venue, he can have a team of over 20 stewards working under him.
"I'm responsible for getting the stewards into position before games," he explains.
"I liase closely with county secretary Pat Lynagh and Seamus Murphy from Maryland, who is in charge of health and safety. Our main purpose is to look after spectators and make them feel as comfortable as possible.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our stewards for giving of their time every time there's a game on in Cusack Park. They do a wonderful job and it's all on a voluntary basis." Tweet

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