Three in the hat for football hot seat

Three candidates, including the incumbent Pat Flanagan, are to be interviewed for the position of Westmeath senior and U21 football manager over the coming days, with a decision to be reached by Wednesday night next (September 5).That was the outcome of a special meeting of Westmeath Football Board at Cusack Park tonight, with Flanagan (right), Athlone and Westmeath great Des Dolan Senior, and Maryland manager Finbar Egan nominated by clubs.The trio will be interviewed by a five-man committee made up of two representatives of the county board, two from the football board, and one representative from the clubs.Flanagan is widely tipped to be given another year at the helm, after guiding Westmeath to a comfortable final position in Division 2 of the National Football League, and coming within a whisker of knocking Kerry out of the All-Ireland championship.But the emergence of two other candidates means that the Clara native will have to wait the best part of a week to know if he can plan for 2013, or if someone else will take his place.Des Dolan Snr - father of Garrycastle star Dessie Dolan, who opted out of the county panel this year - was a mainstay of Westmeath's senior football team during the 1960s, and after turning to coaching, has managed club sides in Offaly, Longford, Dublin and Roscommon. He has also managed Leitrim and Longford at inter-county level.Dolan expressed an interest in the Westmeath job when Tomás Ó Flatharta stepped aside in 2009, and after Brendan Hackett's brief tenure, he was again proposed for the role.Finbar Egan, meanwhile, is credited with masterminding a revolution at Maryland in recent years, steering them to an intermediate championship win in Westmeath (2008), a senior 'B' and U21 title, and maintaining their strong senior championship presence.The former Athlone boss also guided Mayo's ladies to All-Ireland glory during the 1990s.Flanagan, Dolan and Egan will be interviewed by the committee on a variety of issues, including the new Managers' Charter - a binding agreement between the manager and the county board on matters such as training, the availability of players for club fixtures, and the non-payment of managers.The five-man team will then report back to football board delegates on Wednesday night next, with their recommendation for the role.See next Wednesday's Westmeath Examiner for the full story.