Cummiskey set to make way in Louth shake-up

Louth selector Gerry Cummiskey, who took over the managerial duties in the absence of Peter Fitzpatrick, said a possible change to their management would be addressed in due course but he does not expect to be involved next season.

“I’m not going to start to talk for Peter. He makes up his own mind on those type of things, but I would be very surprised if I’ll be around next year.

“I really enjoyed it, but all good things come to an end,” said Cummiskey.

He was angry with the dismissals of captain Mark Brennan and sharpshooter Darren Clarke, which left his side with little chance of advancing.

“I don’t think there was any dirty tackles, but Darren Clarke being sent off was a joke. Well, maybe we could have won it but all I’ll say is that when you lose two men right away in the first half, your chances of winning is diminished in a big way,” added Cummiskey.

Westmeath boss Pat Flanagan, who revealed that John Heslin had to pass a fitness test two hours before throw-in, said victory was a huge relief.

“I don’t think we performed out there so it will be a different game completely [in the second round]. I don’t think the nerves we had, and carried into that game, will be with us the next day,” he said. “We have gotten the monkey off the back with Louth and you know you have to give them credit for the way they played today and kept coming at us even with 13 men. But at least that’s over and done with now and we can move on.

“I think that had it stayed 15 against 15 it would have been a much better game and we would have played much better.

“But we can’t be happy with the way we played against 13 men. We were like headless chickens some of the time, we were going all around the place,” added Flanagan.