Johnny Dooley enjoyed an illustrious playing career with his native Offaly and is now hoping to bring success to Westmeath who, he believes, have the potential to become a force to be reckoned with in Leinster over the next few years. New Westmeath hurling manager Johnny Dooley has one clear objective for the coming season and that's to build on the progress that was made under his predecessor Seamus Qualter during his three years at the helm. Qualter shocked Westmeath hurling fans when he announced his decision to step down within days of guiding the Lake County to their second Christy Ring Cup success in three years last August. The Southern Gaels clubman also led Westmeath to a famous Leinster championship victory over Dublin in 2006 and brought about a marked improvement in the county's hurling fortunes. "Seamus did a great job and will be a hard act to follow," says Johnny who, after serving as team coach last year, was the natural successor to Qualter as manager. "He took over at a difficult time (Tom Ryan resigned as manager halfway through 2005), and turned the whole thing around very quickly. He made it a more professional set-up and brought the team to a new level. My job is to maintain that progress and try to improve the thing further." Dooley takes charge at a time when Westmeath hurling is enjoying something of a renaissance. In the past year, Castletown-Geoghegan won an All-Ireland Feile na nGael Division 2 title, the county's under 14 hurlers won Division 2 of the prestigious Tony Forristal tournament in Waterford, Clonkill contested the All-Ireland club intermediate final and the senior hurlers captured the Christy Ring Cup for the second time. Not since the mid-1980s, when the Lake County were a formidable Division 1 outfit and David Kilcoyne won the county's first All-Star, has there been such optimism surrounding Westmeath hurling. "It's definitely on a high at the moment when you see what has been achieved over the past few months and the progress that has been made at underage level. Lads now want to hurl for Westmeath which mightn't have been the case not so long ago. We started back training in the first week of January and the response has been excellent so far. The attitude is very good and a lot of that comes from winning," the Offaly legend says. Such is the calibre of hurler in Westmeath at present that Dooley believes his new charges could now be at the same stage of development as his native Offaly were before their historic Leinster final breakthrough in 1980. "If you take Offaly pre-1980, we had absolutely no winning record or no achievements of winning anything and no hurling tradition whatsoever. You therefore have to start making your own tradition and everybody has to start somewhere, but I firmly believe we have a good crop of talented young hurlers here in Westmeath capable of building on the two recent Christy Ring Cup successes. The quality of hurler in Westmeath is very good." Famous in his playing days for instigating Offaly's Lazarus-like recovery against Limerick in the 1994 All-Ireland final, Johnny is under no illusion about how difficult the task will be for Westmeath if they are to make the necessary step-up in class in the Leinster championship. "We can give out all we like about not being allowed to play in the Liam McCarthy Cup this year, but if we don't perform against Dublin in the first round of the Leinster championship in May, we won't have any business playing at that level. I know it's a bit of a joke that we weren't rewarded with promotion after winning the Christy Ring Cup last year and that it's doing nothing for the promotion of hurling in weaker counties, but we need to be performing on a more consistent basis against strong opposition in order to prove that we are good enough for that level." He adds: "Our year will be defined on how we do against Dublin. Westmeath hurling will be judged on that, not on the games against the other Christy Ring Cup teams. "With Dublin and Laois also aiming to join hurling's elite, it will not be easy but then it should be every team's ambition to mix it with the best. However, I believe Westmeath are capable of improving sufficiently to take on the more established teams in Leinster, apart from Kilkenny who are operating at another level above those." Johnny has set three goals for his team in 2008. They are to win promotion from Division 2 of the National League, beat Dublin in the Leinster championship and retain the Christy Ring Cup. "We lost narrowly to Laois in the league semi-final last year and we want to make amends for that this year. A lot of teams in that division, like Down, Carlow and Meath, are quite close but there is no reason why we cannot win it out. "My aim is also to have the team in peak condition for the Leinster championship and if we can steer clear of injuries, there is no reason why we cannot beat Dublin. After that, we will be turning our attention to the Christy Ring Cup and trying our best to win it again." Since Dooley retired from inter-county hurling in 2002, he has been involved with the Offaly minors and under 21s and also spent a year coaching the Kildare team. In late 2006, he took up a coaching role with Westmeath and was delighted to be offered the manager's job when it became vacant. "In 2006, I was approached by the Westmeath hurling board to come on board as a coach to assist Seamus Qualter, mainly with ball work. I have enjoyed my time in Westmeath so far and have got on really well with the players, and I'm certainly looking forward to my new challenge." If Dooley is half as successful in his new role as he was a player, Westmeath hurling fans will be more than happy. A member of the famous Dooley clan which backboned the great Offaly team of the 1990s, Johnny first came to prominence when he won All-Ireland minor medals with the Faithful County in 1987 and '89. He won three Leinster medals at under 21 level and had established himself on the senior side by the time Offaly captured the National League title for the first time in 1991. In 1994, his goal from a 21-yard free with five minutes remaining was the catalyst for one of the greatest comebacks ever seen in an All-Ireland hurling final. Four years later, Dooley picked up his second All-Ireland senior medal when Offaly became the first team to claim the Liam McCarthy Cup via the back-door route. The brilliant attacker played his last All-Ireland final in 2000 when Offaly were beaten by Kilkenny. With his club Seir Kieran, Johnny won four county senior championship medals. He also won three All-Star awards in a glittering career. Johnny lives in Tullamore with his wife Sinead and their three children Jack, Emma and Hannah. Sinead is well known in local political circles, being a member of Tullamore Town Council and personal assistant to the Minister for Finance and Tanaiste Brian Cowen. Of course, Johnny's older brother Joe was recently appointed Offaly hurling manager, but both Westmeath and Offaly would have to qualify for the Leinster final for the two brothers to meet in this year's championship. In conclusion, Johnny says: "I would encourage all Westmeath GAA fans to come out and support the hurlers. They're putting in a great effort and they deserve as much support as they can get." Tweet

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