LUKE RUNS OUT FOR SOMEBODY IN PORTLAOISE
AIB LEINSTER SENIOR CLUB FOOTBALL FINAL
Moorefield (Kil) St Loman’s (W’m) Tomorrow, Portlaoise, 2pm (Live TG4)
v IF the journey ends for Luke Dempsey tomorrow the circumstances couldn’t be much better, for he will be among friends and family.
Dempsey is the man who has guided St Loman’s to the last three Westmeath titles, immediately after steering Moorefield to back to back crowns in Kildare.
His plan had been to stake a step back from management after departing as
Carlow chief after a qualifier defeat to Laois in July of 2012.
By that stage he had put in the guts of 20 unbroken years on the sidelines, nine of them with Westmeath teams, four with Longford (right) and five – in two different spells – with Carlow.
He managed Leinster’s interprovincial team too and felt after the Carlow gig that it was time to take a rest. But someone in Moorefield got a hold of him and twisted his arm, then the St Loman’s club close to where he lives in Mullingar sent him an SOS.
Speaking last month after completing the threein-a-row with Loman’s, Dempsey said he has no plans beyond this season.
He said: “Moorefield came along which was an unexpected ask really. I certainly never dreamed of two-in-a-row, or to be managing Loman’s but one leads to two and so on.”
Privately, Dempsey confided that if St Loman’s lost to Mullinalaghta in the Leinster quarter-finals, having lost to the same team last year, it may be time for him to step aside.
But they won by a point, coming from six down with 13 minutes remaining. They came from behind against Simonstown in the semifinals and here Dempsey is now, on the brink of a historic breakthrough.
To add to the intrigue, Ross Glavin, the current Moorefield manager, was his captain when they won the Kildare title in 2013. Ronan Sweeney, the evergreen Moorefield forward and Kildare selector, was Dempsey’s captain in 2014.
Glavin said: “I’d know Luke fairly well. His brother is actually a local enough man in
Newbridge as well so we’d have a close enough connection with the Dempseys.”
Loman’s grit and determination and talented forward line that includes Westmeath duo Shane Dempsey and John Heslin and ex-offaly attacker Ken Casey gives them a fighting chance.
But Dempsey could well be their trump card.
Glavin said: “Luke will have them coached very well and he obviously knows us fairly well too.”