By Paul O’Donovan
It was 7pm, Thursday evening. It was bitterly cold outside, baltic, -2 and frost everywhere. You wouldn’t put a dog out in weather like it. I decided to phone Ger Egan. He had announced his retirement from Westmeath football just two days earlier. Ger couldn’t talk to me just then…..he was going for a run! Going for a run in weather like that!! … well that is the kind of dedication to training that sees you get selected for the Westmeath football team for over 12 years.
It is that kind of commitment and sheer dedication, as well as being a supremely talented footballer, that sees you rated as ‘one of Westmeath’s greatest ever footballers’, and thats what Ger Egan is.
I arranged to talk to Ger the next day and when we did he expressed his bitter disappointment at having to quit the inter-county scene and he had no problem recalling the highs and the lows of his Westmeath football career that brought so much joy to so many. He recalled the great games, the disappointments, all the managers, but most importantly he recalled all the life long friends he had made while playing in the maroon and white of his beloved Westmeath.
