Keane claims October sports star award
WESTMEATH football star John Keane has been selected as the Westmeath Independent Sports Star winner for the month of November. Keane, who also won a coveted All-Star award in October, has been chosen for the award for his sterling contribution to Ireland's excellent victory over Australia in the 2008 International Rules series.
The Rosemount native was also selected on the Opel/GPA Gaelic Team of the Year during November, in what was a terrifically successful year for the Lake County defender. Keane is the only Westmeath player to ever win two All-Star awards. Keane, 28, featured in both of Ireland's International Rules series matches against Australia, as Ireland recorded an aggregate win of 102-97 over their Australia foes. Keane received glowing praise from many sections of the national media for his consistent performances during both tests in Perth and Melbourne.
A Leinster Under-21 Football Championship winner with Westmeath in 2000, Keane was part of the famous Westmeath team that won the county's first ever Leinster Senior Football Championship in 2004. Earlier this year, Keane was also a vitally important player for Westmeath as they won the National Football League Division 2. A son of Jimmy and Mary Keane, John's level of performance throughout the year for Westmeath was outstanding.
However, he couldn't prevent Tomás Ó Flatharta's side from losing to Dublin in the Leinster semi-final and then to eventual All-Ireland winners Tyrone in the qualifiers. Speaking about his latest award - and the recent International Rules series - John said: 'It's a great honour to be chosen for any award and this one is no different. I'm delighted to be selected by the Westmeath Independent and it's further recognition of the team's hard work and efforts throughout the year.' 'It's very difficult to pick a particular highlight from the year or to say that one moment was better than another, but the International Rules series was a great experience for me. It was my first time to get selected for it and to represent Ireland was a brilliant feeling.
I would love to do it again in the future. I'll be focusing everything on Westmeath in the coming weeks and months. We made a good effort at Leinster last year and possibly deserved to go a bit further, so hopefully this year we can make that step-up again and go further in the competition. It's great news that Tomás (Ó Flatharta) has decided to stay on board and the players are delighted with that.
We'll all be working very hard to give Westmeath the best chance possible to achieve something memorable in 2009,' he added. Keane is presently a school teacher in Ardnagrath National School.