Sherlock and Keane declined manager’s role

Former Dublin football star Jason Sherlock turned down the opportunity to manage Westmeath, County Committee chairman Frank Mescall revealed to clubs at the October meeting in the Mullingar Park Hotel.

Sherlock worked with Dessie Dolan for the previous two years as part of the management team, but declined to take up the leading role when Dolan stepped away. Similarly, John Keane, who was coach alongside Dolan, also declined to take up the mantle.

Westmeath have ratified Cavan’s Dermot McCabe as the county’s new senior football manager after he won unanimous support from clubs at the County Committee meeting.

McCabe will be joined by Donegal’s Mark McHugh, who will lead a strong coaching team. McHugh was a coach/selector with the Roscommon senior team in 2023, a season when the Rossies finished in the top three in Division 1 of the Allianz Football League.

There will be one more outside coach added and Westmeath will have to source local selectors to work with the new management.

The process has been intense since Dessie Dolan resigned in August. Jack Cooney, former Westmeath senior football manager, who was part of the committee, noted that he has never been involved in anything as stressful.

Frank Mescall said McCabe comes with excellent credentials.

“He’s a very impressive man. As a player he was a really good player; and his coaching expertise – his day job is football, looking after development squads, and all of that. He has hugely impressive credentials for that,” he remarked.

“We weren’t prepared to accept any ‘Joe Soap’; we were selective. We approached a lot of people. We travelled to meet three people but in the end we decided on Dermot McCabe.”

McCabe won six senior club championships and secured both Ulster U21 and senior titles with Cavan as a player. He represented Ulster in the Inter-Provincial Championships and Ireland in the International Rules Series on multiple occasions.

In 1997, he earned the prestigious honour of becoming Cavan’s second-ever All-Star.

McCabe is heavily involved with coaching and works as games development manager in Cavan. He has won Ulster Senior and Minor Championships with Cavan (he was part of Mickey Graham’s management team when Cavan won the Ulster SFC in 2020) and two senior club championships along with a league title with his home club, Gowna.

Mark McHugh, meanwhile, known for his tactical expertise and dedication to the game, will be a key figure in shaping the future of the team. Together, McCabe and McHugh bring a wealth of experience, leadership, and ambition, making for an exciting chapter in Westmeath football.

There was a query from Derek Heffernan of Killucan regarding a local man, but the chairman said finding someone with proper experience from within Westmeath was a challenge and managing the team is a major commitment.

“We were blessed to have Jack Cooney: we had an immediate successor to him in Dessie Dolan. The fact that John Keane or Jason Sherlock were not interested as part of the outgoing team meant it had to be a totally new person. Both were asked and they said no,” he said.

Meanwhile, Johnny Rabbit of Castlepollard complained about leaks in the appointment of the new senior football manager. He felt it should not have been released until clubs met to ratify the Cavan man.

“I remember being here when Dessie Dolan’s departure was leaked. It’s the same thing this time around,” he said.

Frank Mescall informed clubs it was leaked the previous week and he was made aware of it when he received a call and five or six people were named as sources. “Word gets out, there are lots of ways it could get out but it’s a fact of life,” he said, pointing out that it’s easy for information to be passed on when different people are interviewed for the position.