Dessie Dolan

He was a member of Jack Cooney's management team, before Cooney stepped down earlier this year.

Dessie Dolan has been appointed Westmeath senior football manager, succeeding Jack Cooney in the position. The 2004 All Star is expected to be joined in the ...

One of his first targets will be to try lead Westmeath to promotion in the National Football League. Still, Cooney’s tenure is generally regarded as having been positive, that view aided by the recency bias from the outpouring of emotion that followed the Tailteann Cup success during the summer and subsequent homecoming celebrations in the county. Westmeath finished third in Division Three of the National Football League this year, missing out on promotion, but they won the inaugural Tailteann Cup at Croke Park in July. Dolan was one of Westmeath’s most talented players and at the height of his intercounty career the Garrycastle clubman was regarded as one of the best forwards in the country. They won promotion from Division Three in his first year and retained their status in Division Two in 2020. “Dolan is one of our county’s greatest ever footballers and played with the senior team from 1998-2014, scoring 15-449.

Dolan had been a selector in the outgoing management team headed up by Jack Cooney, the latter vacating the post of Lake County boss when appointed as the GAA's ...

The Mount Sion great served as a selector under Cahill during the final year of his Déise tenure. Westmeath, who won the inaugural Tailteann Cup this year, will have promotion out of Division 3 as their chief priority in 2023. Dolan and Keane were key members of the history-making Westmeath team that won the county’s one and only Leinster SFC crown in 2004.

Westmeath's standout player from their history-making noughties team will be joined by John Keane – himself a fellow Leinster SFC medallist and All-Star from ...

Curiously, the new boss will now take on a role that eluded Dessie Dolan Snr, his father, during a lengthy coaching career. His appointment to the position of National Player Development Lead rendered it impossible for the Coralstown/Kinnegad to stay on in charge. It’s understood that Dolan will be proposed as manager with Keane, Westmeath’s only two-time All-Star, installed as team coach.