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County Colours

26 signs that you're a Westmeath sports fan

You know that Bressie was a rugby player before he was a musician, and 25 other sure-fire signs…

26. You celebrated Rory O’Connell winning the county’s first football All-Star in 2001

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(©INPHO/Patrick Bolger)

25. But you’ll always remember when David Kilcoyne got his due in the 1986 hurling All-Stars

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(©INPHO/Tom Honan)

24. You’ve seen ultra-marathon runner Gerry Duffy out pounding the pavements of Mullingar

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(©INPHO/Donall Farmer)

23. You’ve been known to have a few quid on Michael O’Leary’s horses

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(©INPHO/Dan Sheridan)

22. Before Leinster and Ireland, you remember Joe Schmidt cutting his teeth as a coach in Wilson’s Hospital

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(©INPHO/Billy Stickland)

21. And when Bressie wasn’t a musician but Irish rugby’s next big thing

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(©INPHO/Cathal Noonan)

20. You’ve chatted tactics with Roddy before the Midlands Clasico

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(©INPHO/James Crombie)

19. And you’re still stumped by Trap’s story about how he had to get the boat to St Mel’s when he was a coach at AC Milan

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(©INPHO/Donall Farmer)

18. You’ll tell anyone who will listen that Westmeath had not one…

Showjumper Joseph Murphy

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(©INPHO/Dan Sheridan)

17. Not two…

Damien Shaw, right, who won Paralympic bronze with James Brown

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(©INPHO/Greg Smith)

16. Not three…

Boxing silver medallist John Joe Nevin

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(©INPHO/James Crombie)

15. But four athletes at the London Olympics and Paralympics last summer

Double Paralympic gold medallist Mark Rohan

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(©INPHO/Greg Smith)

14. (And it would have been five if Moate’s Joe Ward hadn’t been robbed)

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(©INPHO/Cathal Noonan)

13. You reckon nobody gives a pre-match team-talk like Mark Rohan

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(©INPHO/Lorraine O’Sullivan)

12. And you know Gary Connaughton was just as good between the sticks in his Athlone Town days…

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(©Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO)

11. As he is for the county’s footballers

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(©INPHO/Lorraine O’Sullivan)

10. You’ll never forget the day Shane Curran’s saves handed the League of Ireland title to Dundalk

Skip to 6:10

YouTube Credit: guisasaigon

9. You cheered on Mullingar Athletic’s Connor Smith from your sitting room during the first season of Football’s Next Star

And you were delighted when he signed for Watford.

YouTube Credit: BlaStuff

8. You know John Heslin could have been an Aussie Rules star but he’s better off starring for Westmeath

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(©INPHO/James Crombie)

7. You savoured the U21 All-Ireland win in 1999

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(©INPHO/Billy Stickland)

6. And the minor win in 95 was one to cherish as well

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(©INPHO/Lorraine O ‘Sullivan)

5. You taught Dessie Dolan how to kick points

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(©INPHO/James Crombie)

4. And surf

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(©INPHO/Morgan Treacy)

3. You felt the loss of this Kerryman as if he was one of the county’s own

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(©INPHO/Morgan Treacy)

2. And you’ve worn out your VHS of ‘Marooned’

YouTube Credit: athbhriainabu11

1. But the greatest moment of your life was…

That Leinster final against Laois in 2004.

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(©INPHO/Morgan Treacy)

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