Coyne settling into new role
April 30, 2011A small piece of history was made at last December's Westmeath football board convention when Gerry Coyne became the first person from the Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall club to be elected onto the executive.
Coyne replaced the long-serving Tommy Glennon from Tyrrellspass as secretary on a night when St. Mary's Liam Gavin was also elected as the board's new chairman in succession to Des Maguire. In the past, the late Charlie Fagan and Ned Flynn have flown the flag for the county's most northerly club at county board level, but Gerry is the first man from the area to sit on the football board.
"It was a great honour to be elected onto the football board executive after serving 10 years as a delegate for my club," he says.
"The late Charlie Fagan, who I travelled to matches with as a youngster, served as county board chairman from 1953 to '57, while Ned Flynn had a couple of stints as minor board chairman. They were fine administrators and if I can do half as good a job as they did, I'll be happy."
A native of Milltown, Co. Galway, where he lived next door to the great Noel Tierney, Gerry moved with his family to Coole at a young age and has been involved with the GAA ever since. His sons William, Mark and Alan have all inherited his passion for the game. William has been a mainstay of the Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall team for the past number of years and featured for Westmeath in last year's O'Byrne Cup and National League. Mark captained St. Michael's (a combination of Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall and Ballycomoyle) to an under 16 championship in 2008 and a minor championship in 2009, while 17-year-old Alan is a budding referee who is already officiating at underage level, and is part of the Leinster Academy.
A cousin of former Galway goalkeeper Padraig Coyne, who was famously lobbed by Dublin's Barney Rock (who later managed Westmeath) in the 1983 All-Ireland final, Gerry is also a cousin of Kilmacud Crokes star Liam Og O hEineachain and Ballinteer St. John's siblings John and Angie McNally who, like O hEineachain, have both represented Dublin in football.
Gerry first pulled on the Castletown-Finea jersey at underage level 40 years ago and continues to line out for the club when the need arises (he played in a junior 'B' championship game last year). After playing all his underage football with Castletown-Finea he joined Coole, who only existed as a club for a few years, but won a Division 3 League in that time. On rejoining Castletown-Finea, Gerry helped them reach the 1985 junior championship final which they lost to a late St. Loman's goal. In 1991, Castletown-Finea changed its name by adding Coole/Whitehall to recognise the number of players from those areas.
Gerry, who was part of Castlepollard's 1974 senior hurling championship winning panel and played badminton at a high level, still remembers his first adult game for Castletown-Finea.
"We played The Downs in a challenge match and I was marking the great Christy Corroon. That was some introduction to adult football! We had excellent footballers at the time, including Michael Kilcoyne, who was Westmeath's first dual All-Star replacement, and Mickey Fagan, who was another brilliant dual star. I think we would have been more successful if hurling hadn't been the main game with most of the lads," he says.
Gerry began coaching the Coole/Whitehall under 10s in the early 1990s and, along with Dessie Doolin, guided them to the All-Ireland Community Games final in 1992. Many of that team went on to enjoy further underage success with both Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall and Inny Gaels, and currently backbone the club's intermediate side who hold the unwanted distinction of having lost the last three championship semi-finals. Last year, Gerry was manager of the under 21 side who lost to eventual 13-a-side champions Maryland at the quarter-final stage.
"We've produced a lot of talented players over the past 10 years or so and we need to win an intermediate championship very soon. Hopefully, we'll be able to break our semi-final duck this year and get into a final."
Coyne is relishing his new role on the Westmeath football board and is confident that the county senior team can turn their fortunes around after a couple of disastrous seasons.
"Every day I'm in this job I'm learning. I'm getting to know the people involved with the senior set-up, including Pat Flanagan, who I'd never met up until recently. I've known Larry Giles and Tom Darcy (Flanagan's selectors) for a long time and I know that they are very capable individuals. I'm very hopeful for the coming year," he explains.
"Everyone is aware of the difficulties Westmeath have had in the past two years and the aim has to be to get back to winning ways. The standard of underage football in the county is very good, the senior championship is competitive enough, while the intermediate championship is a real minefield.
"A Leinster final spot is a realistic goal for Westmeath with the way the draw has worked out, but we must first get back to winning ways and get the confidence flowing again. I would take great encouragement from the progress of our under 21s, who have beaten Laois and Offaly to reach the Leinster semi-final. Hopefully they can go a step further than last year and win Leinster."
As those who have attended football board meetings in the past decade will vouch, Gerry has strong opinions on many GAA issues, including the illegal but widespread practice of paying managers. He also makes no secret of his disgust at the circumstances which led to Brendan Hackett's removal as Westmeath manager on the eve of last year's championship.
"I thought Brendan was harshly treated and you could only admire him for the manner in which he conducted himself during the whole sorry episode. If James Durkan's goal attempt in last year's Leinster under 21 final against Dublin had been the other side of the post, Brendan would have been a hero. I don't think his removal was justified at all."
For the past 18 years, Gerry has been employed by Mullingar Autos as their senior sales executive. Established in 1972 at Dublin Bridge, Mullingar, Mullingar Autos has become known as one of the foremost Volkswagen car and commercial dealerships in the country.
Prior to setting up the business, dealer principal Jim Bourke had been in partnership with the late Eddie O'Hara. Mullingar Autos is essentially a family-run business with Jim's brothers Eugene and Dan employed as sales director and service director respectively. Indeed, the Bourke family is synonymous with Cullion hurling club.
Previously, Mullingar Autos also held the Audi and Mazda dealerships. In 2005, Gerry became one of only six Irish VW commercial sales executives to pass a European requirement exam.
Two years later, he was presented with a Gold Pin and Parchment in recognition of his exceptional service to the Volkswagen organisation. The presentation was made at a gala ceremony which took place at the Heritage Hotel and Golf Complex in Killenard, Co. Laois.
Here's hoping he'll have more success to look forward to with Westmeath in the year ahead! Tweet
