Dempsey to continue as Carlow boss

Speculation linking Luke Dempsey with the vacant Westmeath managerial position has proven wide of the mark, with the Rochfortbridge-based school teacher taking the decision to remain on as manager of the Carlow footballers for another year.

Tomas O Flatharta stepped down as Westmeath manager last Saturday following their All-Ireland SFC qualifier loss to Meath, bowing out of the Championship a week later than Dempsey's Carlow side.

Carlow's Championship aspirations were ended by Donegal in Ballybofey, but Dempsey is quietly confident that he can get the team back firing as they were when he was first in charge in 2004.

"There has been a lot of tooing and froing of managers in the last few years and that has created problems," Dempsey told the Evening Herald.

"It wouldn't be in the best interests of Carlow football to be changing managements again this year. We'll see how the second year goes. If I left, it would just be a disaster."

Dempsey famously managed Westmeath to All-Ireland minor and Under-21 titles in 1995 and 1999 respectively and the seniors reached an All-Ireland quarter-final during his reign.

After missing out on the Meath job last year, he took over in Carlow from Paul Bealin.

The Barrowsiders struggled for results in National League Division 4 and Championship losses to Louth and Donegal will have done little for the players' confidence levels.

One of the downsides of his first season back at Carlow's helm was the number of players who opted off the panel, including Paul Cashin, Ray Walker, David Byrne and Padraig Bambrick.

Thomas Walsh's decision to remain playing for Wicklow also upset Dempsey - the player had reportedly given assurances that he would be back playing for his native county this year.

"The group of lads who committed themselves in the latter half of the year put in a massive effort - as good as any group I've been with," Dempsey added.

"It's just that it took that long to get that commitment because of residual damage done. I would feel that I would like to put a structure in place to bring Carlow into the future.

"The intention is to get out of Division 4. We will need to bring in new players and we hope that they will come from the younger players rather than the older ones who have been been affected by the events of the last few years and have a bit of scar tissue."