Flanagan believes his side can book place in Leinster decider

WESTMEATH interim manager Pat Flanagan has already made a notable impact on the Lake County's set-up, and is now busy preparing his troops for a keenly awaited Leinster SFC semi-final against Louth at Croke Park (Sunday, 5.50pm). In late April, Flanagan took over a team low on confidence and short on positive results, having actually failed to win in 14 National Football League matches. Morale was low and supporters were genuinely concerned about Westmeath exiting the Leinster championship at the very first hurdle. But three weeks ago in Tullamore, former Tyrrellspass manager Flanagan, in his managerial debut at inter-county level, guided his new charges to a quarter-final victory over Mick O'Dwyer's Wicklow - a result that was always possible but which seemed largely unlikely for a Westmeath panel who had taken much criticism in recent times. Almost immediately, the clouds seemed to lift over the senior set-up. With Dessie Dolan and Denis Glennon contributing to the success over Wicklow, after coming out of their respective inter-county sabbaticals, John Keane and Derek Heavin have now also rejoined the fold. Suddenly, the mood around Westmeath football appears, on the surface at least, to be on the up, and it's far from unrealistic to suggest that Westmeath will be playing in this year's Leinster decider.Defending Leinster champions Dublin face Meath in the other semi-final at 4pm. However, Flanagan himself is keen to focus on this weekend's match against Louth, and allow others outside of the camp to speculate about what might happen. "People ask me about the other side of the draw, the teams in the other semi-final, and while I'm obviously interested and watching closely what happens there, I can't allow us to start thinking about anything other than Louth," said Flanagan. "Of course the prospect of playing in a Leinster final is spurring on the players, and giving supporters plenty to think about, but we've only won one game in championship football, and this weekend against Louth is a totally different proposition and challenge. "We need to concentrate on Louth, nothing else, and deal with the final if we get there. I'm looking forward to this weekend, but make no mistake Louth are a very good team, and they'll be very difficult to overcome in Croke Park. "But I have faith in the players, Westmeath have some very good players, and we can hopefully do it at the weekend," added Flanagan. There had been much focus on the venue of the semi-final, with a Croke Park semi-final double header eventually decided upon. Westmeath GAA chairman Tom Farrell supported the decision to play the semi-final for Croke Park, but Flanagan is not prepared to get involved in off-field matters. "I don't really like commenting on things like that and leave it to other people. My job is to prepare and train the Westmeath players to the best of my ability, and try to do the right things by Westmeath," said Flanagan. The Westmeath supremo also commented on the re-introduction of the previously retired players, including Dessie Dolan and John Keane. "It's my opinion that Westmeath need as much experience as they can get at this moment in time, and the four lads who have returned to the fold give us that in abundance. Their levels of experience and commitment are exceptional, and can only be a huge influence to the younger, less experienced members of the panel. The whole idea of bringing these lads back into the set-up is to get Westmeath performing to the best of their ability, and these lads also lift the intensity and level of training. Their return to the fold has been nothing but positive for the overall picture," he said. Flanagan is wary of the high score Louth managed against Kildare and feels they have added a certain amount of steel to their play. "I felt it was interesting to see Louth close out the game and finish the job against Kildare (in the quarter-finals). That's perhaps something that Louth had struggled to do in the last number of years, but they showed a resilience and determination to get over the line. It's going to be a very tough for us but I've plenty of faith in the Westmeath players and believe we can win. "The win against Wicklow was a massive boost to our confidence and a lot of credit must go to the likes of Paul Conway and David Mitchell, who have worked really hard to improve things among the players. We've only had a short period with the players but they've been great to work with, and I knew that would be the case after my spell with them as a selector. Hopefully we can continue to do the right things this weekend and clinch a place in the Leinster final," said Flanagan.