Mangan takes over as Westmeath ladies football manager

FORMER Westmeath star Alan Mangan has been confirmed as the new manager of the Westmeath ladies senior football team. It's also emerged this week that another former Lake County star, Martin Flanagan, will be part of Mangan's backroom team, as the Westmeath ladies begin the push to emulate their marvellous successes of 2011. Mangan had been joint-manager with Peter Leahy for the past two years, but the management team stepped down just weeks after last October's historic All-Ireland intermediate final win over Cavan, after Leahy agreed to become the county hurlers new trainer. However, the Westmeath ladies will now benefit from a level of continuity after Mangan agreed to take sole charge of the team. The St Malachy's clubman has wasted little time appointing his support team, including both Tyrrellspass hero Martin Flanagan, and Ollie Rogers, father of current Westmeath ladies stalwart, Jenny Rogers, who was a crucial figure at centre-back throughout the 2011 campaign. Initially, it was thought that Mangan would also step away from the Westmeath set-up, in the wake of Leahy's departure, but the 2004 Leinster winner will now be sole manager of the team, as they try to build on last year's success, which also saw the Lake County win the National League Division 4 and Leinster intermediate championship titles. Mangan, however, has much work to do over the coming months, with Westmeath behind many of the other teams in terms of training, such was the delay in appointing a new management team. The players returned to training late last week and Mangan will be hoping the vast experience of Flanagan and Rogers, the latter a former h manager of the Westmeath minor ladies team, will aid the players during the coming months. Flanagan, for his part, is considered one of the finest talents the county has ever produced, but missed out on Westmeath's successful 2004 campaign. Equally at home at midfield or in attack, he made his championship debut against Wexford in 1995, and went on to win National League Division 2 medals in 2001, 2003 and 2008. Flanagan played his club football with Tyrrellspass, winning Westmeath SFC medals in 1999, 2006 and 2007. He also played in the Leinster Senior Club Football Championship final in 2007, when Tyrrellspass lost out to Dublin side St Vincent's.