Westmeath stalwart Wilson retires from inter-county football

ONE of the stalwarts of Westmeath's senior football team over the past decade has announced his decision to retire from inter-county participation. Fergal Wilson, 31, has decided to draw a line under his Lake County career, after a hugely successful association with the county set-up, winning an All-Ireland Under-21 title in 1999 (beating Kerry in the final), before helping Westmeath make a historic Leinster senior championship breakthrough in 2004. However, the talented forward has decided to step away from the county scene, and this week spoke of a desire to help new Tubberclair senior team manager, Martin McCabe, bring the club back to the senior grade following relegation to intermediate football earlier this year. Wilson told the Westmeath Independent: "I had a few good chats with Pat Flanagan (the current Westmeath senior team manager) and decided to call it a day. The main reason is that I've been picking up a good few niggling injuries over the past couple of years, and have struggled to reach the fitness levels needed for inter-county football. "Playing inter-county football is also extremely time-consuming, you're talking four or five nights training each week, then games, and the amount of preparation that goes into those. I recently started a teaching job in Roscommon Community College as well, so I just couldn't give the commitment needed. But I had 11 or 12 years involved with Westmeath, starting at underage level, so it's been a fairly good stint. I enjoyed my association with the county very much, but sometimes you have to admit when the time has come to step aside." Wilson admitted he will miss the involvement in big county matches, and also the dressing-room banter. "I think I had a good run at it (playing for Westmeath), in fairness," he said. "Mostly, it was a very good time to be involved in the Westmeath set-up, and we had some very good times. To be part of the first Westmeath team to win a Leinster senior title was brilliant, it's something I'll never forget, but we also had the All-Ireland under-21 title with Luke (Dempsey) and that was great. We had a great year in 2001 as well, when we led Meath by seven points in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final, but threw it away. We were very, very close to an All-Ireland semi-final there, but it wasn't to be," said Wilson. The now-former Westmeath marksman praised all the managers he played under, and thanked his team-mates for their help during his time in the set-up. Now, Wilson has the time and energy to focus solely on Tubberclair, who were relegated from the Westmeath SFC this year. "I think Tubberclair have got a very good manager in Martin McCabe, and it should lift everyone after losing our place in the senior championship. To be fair, it was always going to be an uphill struggle for us in the championship because we lost an enormous amount of players to emigration and injury. Tubberclair will be trying to get back on track next year, and have a brilliant opportunity with Martin in charge. I'm looking forward to being able to contribute more with Tubberclair, and to hopefully help the club win some honours. "Playing club football is not as intense, not as time-consuming as inter-county, so hopefully Tubberclair can reap some benefit from my decision to step away from the Westmeath set-up," said Wilson. The Tubberclair star also confirmed that he recently turned down an offer from new Westmeath minor manager Tom Carr to come on board in a coaching capacity. "I spoke to Tom (Carr) but at the end of the day, he's looking for 100 per cent commitment from his coaching staff, and I perfectly understand that. I don't think the timing is right for me, I think I've a couple more good years left with Tubberclair, and want to give them my full commitment. Working with Tom would've been a great experience, but the timing is not right for me," he said.