Joe Fortune is Westmeath’s new senior hurling manager
Wexford native Joe Fortune is to lead Westmeath’s senior hurlers into 2022 and beyond, after he was ratified as their new manager at tonight’s meeting of Westmeath GAA’s county committee.
Fortune, a member of the Wexford U20 hurling management setup this year, will be in charge of Westmeath for an initial two-year term, and his backroom team will be announced in the coming weeks.
Westmeath Gaels have come across Enniscorthy native Fortune, a Malahide-based schoolteacher, on a number of occasions in recent years. In 2016, his Dublin side defeated Westmeath in the semi-finals of the Leinster U21 hurling championship, after the Lake County had stunned Kilkenny in the previous round. Dublin went on to win the Leinster title, and narrowly missed out on a place in the All-Ireland final.
Fortune went on to take the helm at Dublin club Ballyboden St Enda’s, and led Boden to a Dublin SHC title in 2018. They met Clonkill in the Leinster Club SHC that same year, before losing out to Ballyhale Shamrocks in the final.
The appointment comes just shy of two months after Dubliner Shane O’Brien stepped down from the Westmeath management role, after making huge inroads with the hurlers, winning the Joe McDonagh Cup last year and competing in Division 1 of the NHL for two seasons.
Kevin O’Brien, who led Clonkill to back-to-back Westmeath senior hurling titles in 2019, and former Dublin hurler Ryan O’Dwyer were among the other names linked to the post in recent weeks.
Westmeath GAA chairman Frank Mescall said that Fortune’s appointment came at the end of a “long and arduous” process, but the appointment committee – which comprised county board officials, plus former Westmeath players Pat Clarke (Castletown Geoghegan) and Brendan Murtagh (Clonkill) – is happy it chose the right candidate. Mescall described Fortune as “an enthusiastic and dedicated young man” with a great CV at both club and inter-county level.
Fortune’s appointment was proposed by Westmeath hurling committee chairman Matty Conaty, and seconded by Westmeath minor board chairman Alan Leech, without any counter-proposals.
Cooney era continues
Meanwhile, Jack Cooney will stay on as the Lake County’s senior football manager for at least another two years after being ratified tonight, with football committee chairman Des Maguire (Mullingar Shamrocks) proposing, and Aiden McGuire (The Downs) seconding.
The chairman said that the Coralstown/Kinnegad clubman “did brilliant work over the last three years”, and the county’s football fraternity is “looking forward to great things” in the coming years.
Cooney, whose Westmeath charges narrowly missed out on a spot in the Leinster SFC final in July, has the option of staying on for a third year before the role comes up for ratification again.