Flanagan dismayed by Boyle's decision to opt for hurling

WESTMEATH senior football team manager Pat Flanagan has expressed disappointment and surprise at the loss of one of his regular players to the county hurling side. Killucan footballer Boyle, 24, who plays club hurling with Raharney, has been a regular feature for the Westmeath senior footballers since 2006, but recently revealed that he's likely to focus solely on hurling after being included in Brian Hanley's provisional panel for 2012. With hurling manager Brian Hanley stating he only wants players who are totally committed to hurling, Flanagan could also be facing the possibility of losing dual players such as Paul Greville, Conor Jordan and Brendan Murtagh to the Lake County's hurling set-up. However, Flanagan this week called into question Boyle's decision to commit to hurling. "Firstly, I'm extremely disappointed Francis Boyle has decided to commit solely to hurling. Francis has been a good servant to Westmeath football over recent years, so it's difficult to understand why he's chosen hurling. Perhaps he felt his form dipped a bit towards the end of this year's campaign, and he did have a difficult period with us, but I can't really say much more because Francis hasn't consulted me about his decision, to be honest," said Flanagan. "The likes of Paul Greville and Brendan Murtagh are undecided on the issue. It's not my business to tell another manager how to operate, but I have great concerns that Westmeath doesn't have the resources, or the volume of players, to demand that players pick one or the other (football or hurling). "It's not a case of enticing lads or trying to provide things that hurling can't, but I believe Westmeath will be playing at a very high standard in Division 2 of the National Football League, and it provides a great challenge to the county's football players. I feel Westmeath can push on this year, and learn an awful lot from playing Division 2 football," Flanagan said. Meanwhile, Flanagan has confirmed his search for a second selector is still ongoing. Rosemount's Tom Darcy has already committed to a further year as part of Flanagan's support-team, while Flanagan's fellow Clara native, Joe Quinn, has joined the backroom team as a physical trainer. Flanagan said he's been in discussions with "a couple of people" about coming on board as a selector, and that the issue should be sorted by the end of the week. "There's nothing definite at the minute, but I spoke to a candidate on Monday night, and I expect it to be sorted by the end of the week. With my selectors, I'm looking for someone with inter-county experience, and also someone who has the ability to coach players. I don't want someone whose only involvement is helping to pick a team. They have to have expertise in one area of the field or the other, and be able to communicate well with players, and do some coaching. The lads I've spoken to about the position have played at the highest level, and hopefully it will be completely sorted by the end of the week," said Flanagan. The Westmeath manager said he's currently communicating with up to 45 players, as part of a provisional panel, and that they have been assigned personal fitness programmes to work on ahead of collective training in early January. Flanagan said players from Garrycastle and Mullingar Shamrocks have not yet been involved in the programme, due to their club commitments running on longer than other club players. "I'm hopeful that a lot of younger players will come into the panel and make their mark," added Flanagan.