Westmeath hope to finally end football manager saga

THE Westmeath County Board hope to finally bring an end to the ongoing saga surrounding the future of Tomás Ó Flatharta as senior football team manager. Despite Ó Flatharta been linked to a couple of other inter county jobs in the recent past, including his native Kerry, Westmeath county officials are 'confident' on sewing up Ó Flatharta"s future as Lake County manager by the weekend. The Westmeath Football Board gave unanimous approval in September for the Kerry native to remain at the helm, but discussions between Ó Flatharta and the county board have been ongoing ever since. Speaking this week, football board chairman Des Maguire confirmed the main stumbling block in negotiations was Ó Flatharta"s unhappiness with training facilities in the county. The county team has had no dedicated training facility in the recent past and has regularly chopped and changed between venues, such as Athlone, Ballinagore and Tubberclair. In recent weeks, there has been increasing worry among Westmeath followers about Ó Flatharta"s future. However, Des Maguire said he envisages no further delays in rubber-stamping the Dublin bank official"s future. Several senior players from the Westmeath panel have recently come out in support of Ó Flatharta remaining in charge, but the Kerryman himself has maintained a slightly worrying silence on the matter for some time. However, Maguire is confident that Ó Flatharta will not fly the nest. 'We have been speaking to Tomás for the last while and it has gone on a bit longer than anticipated, but I don"t envisage any further difficulties in discussions. There was an issue regarding training facilities and this forced the matter to drag on a bit. But things have to be right as well and you can understand Tomás insisting on that. Hopefully, the matter will be fully resolved by the weekend and we can then officially reappoint Tomás at the next county board meeting, which will take place in the coming weeks,' said Maguire. Meanwhile, St Brigid"s senior football manager Anthony Cunningham is among a list of eight candidates who have been nominated to succeed Ger Loughnane as Galway"s next senior hurling manager. Cunningham could be in line for a position in the new management structure, if ex-Portumna manager Jimmy Heverin gets the nod as manager.