Ryan resigns over turnout in Westmeath

Hurling TroubleA clearly disillusioned Tom Ryan has walked away from his position as Westmeath hurling manager, left "shocked" and "insulted" by the turnout at the first training session of the season. Although Westmeath officials met last night in an attempt to resolve some of the issues, Ryan was adamant he won't be returning in a hurry.

The former Limerick manager was asked to take over the Westmeath position last year, and appeared to be making reasonable progress, especially during their league campaign. He then hand-picked 61 players from the senior and under-21 grades to start back county training last Saturday, determined to make further progress in the New Year.

"I came up from Limerick with a few of the selectors and the trainer and when we got to Mullingar only seven of the 61 turned up," said Ryan. "And two of those were injured. So we had five players to work with.

"It was just unreal, and I was shocked. To me that was a clear vote of no confidence in what we're trying to do. I had intended on starting back in early October, just to get them doing some sort of hurling. But the football championship was still going on, and of course that was important to the county, so finally settled on last Saturday, which was a fine day."

Ryan's disgust was made worse by the fact he'd attended almost every hurling match in Westmeath over the past few months, intent on trawling the county for talent. And he totally rejected the suggestion a lack of communication partly explained the hideously poor turnout.

"That's just been used as some kind of excuse. I believe everyone was sufficiently notified, without me going out catching them all by the hand and bringing them in. And if I was notified about county training and had met the manager personally, I'd be making a few inquiries myself. But they were all notified in writing the week before that we'd be out every Saturday now until Christmas.

"And I was pushing that aspect of it. I'm long enough on the road to know how important the logistics of these things are as well. In fact, we'd spent a good bit of time contacting these lads, and I met most of them personally myself, telling them what we had in mind. To me it was just lack of interest."

Westmeath's setback is the latest in the long-running saga of smaller hurling counties trying to develop the game to a somewhat competitive intercounty level.

And while Ryan remains sympathetic to the cause, he wasn't willing to waste any more time in Westmeath.

"I think I've done more than my bit to try and get this off the ground. But hurling has to be worked at, and all these plans from Croke Park won't help. It has to be supported in counties like Westmeath, otherwise we can leave it to three or four counties to win the All-Ireland one after another. And it's not being supported, it's a simple as that.

"But I did feel we could get young players interested in Westmeath, especially with the format of next year's championship where we have a chance of actually making a bit of progress. There's no guarantees of course, but I felt I'd a good management team around me.

"But then obviously the success of the football team meant that everyone had aspirations to play for the football team. But look, if you're notified to train with any county team you should at least respect it. If this were Kilkenny or Offaly or Tipperary they'd die for even a smell of the jersey. I know in Limerick this time last year they had 400 turn up for the hurling trials."

It remains to be seen what the Westmeath County Board can do to tempt Ryan back to the position, but he feels enough has been said already: "I've attended enough meetings and seminars and all that now. I've done enough talking. You can have all the county board meetings you want, but everybody knows that if you want to make progress then you have to put the work in.

"So you don't need to be a rocket scientist to know how I feel about it now. Maybe I was a little naive, but I felt so let down, and I mean where do you go after that? As far as I'm concerned I've better things to be doing. My thinking on hurling is too positive for this. In fact I feel insulted by the whole thing.

"I just hoped we could expand the parameters a bit, prove the system wrong, or maybe turn it around a little. Not just talk about it. And when I was approached by Westmeath I didn't need to be asked twice. I met positive people here, and I was anxious to prove that maybe hurling could be successful. But a turnout like this was a first for me."