Having achieved his first objective by keeping Westmeath in Division 1 of the National League, Paidi O Sé now has his sights set on the Leinster championship meeting with Offaly on May 23. He recently spoke to 'Maroon and White' about his first few months at the helm in Westmeath and his hopes for the future. After a hectic few months which has seen the Westmeath footballers mix the good with the bad, Paidi O Sé finally has a chance to take stock of happenings. Six months into his reign as Lake County boss, the big positive he can take is keeping Westmeath in Division 1 of the National League - something which had never been achieved before. For much of the league, Westmeath struggled and O Sé as good as admitted after the penultimate round defeat Tyrone that Westmeath couldn't escape the drop. But an amazing series of results saw the midlanders retain their top flight status and as a result, much of the optimism that existed during the exciting O'Byrne Cup run has returned to the county ahead of the big Leinster championship showdown with Offaly on May 23 in Croke Park. "I'm very happy and relieved that we survived in Division 1 - it was looking bad there for a long time," the Kerry legend says. "We can now look forward and prepare for the championship and we can say that we retained our Division 1 status." O Sé's arrival in the midlands last October was one of the biggest sporting stories of 2003. Following Luke Dempsey's resignation, football board chiefs interviewed numerous candidates for the position of manager. The board never made any secret of their desire to appoint a "big name", but it still came as a shock to everyone when O Sé was unveiled as the man to lead Westmeath into the 2004 campaign. What made his appointment all the more surprising was that only a few days earlier, he had admitted that he couldn't imagine himself managing any county other than his beloved Kerry, who he had just parted company with in acrimonious circumstances. At a hastily arranged press conference in the Greville Arms Hotel, he said he would be striving to win a Leinster title with Westmeath over the next two years. He also made it clear that he would be prepared to travel from his West Kerry base to Ballinagore for training on a twice-weekly basis. Amid a blaze of publicity and hype, O Sé made a great start to his reign as Westmeath manager by guiding them to O'Byrne Cup victories over Louth, Kildare and Carlow. A record attendance of 15,000 flocked to Cusack Park for the final against Meath, but as has so often proved to be the case in the past, the Royals spoiled the party with a one-point victory. Despite that setback, Westmeath approached the National League in a confident frame of mind. It started in positive fashion with a draw being achieved away to Cork. But a shock defeat to Longford in Mullingar marked the beginning of a miserable period for Westmeath who would suffer further defeats to Dublin, Kerry and Tyrone and only draw with Fermanagh. Relegation appeared inevitable until Fermanagh beat Longford in their second last game. Westmeath's fate was still out of their own hands, but in the final round of games, they produced a much-improved display to secure their only win of the campaign at Mayo's expense. And their Division 1 survival was assured by virtue of Cork's victory over Fermanagh and Dublin's defeat of Longford. "Dublin delivered for us and Cork delivered for us - and if we couldn't deliver on our home ground, it wouldn't have looked good. It would have left a lot of egg on a lot of fellas' faces - especially my own," he quipped. While acknowledging that Westmeath were fortunate to retain their top flight status with just four points, the Ventry publican believes that they should not have found themselves in such a position. "We got the rub of the relic in the end alright, but we should never have been in that position. The games against Cork, Longford and Fermanagh were there for us to win, but we failed to deliver the knock-out blow in any of them. In my opinion, the luck we got in the end was no more than what we deserved." Reflecting on his first few months in charge of Westmeath, the eight-times All-Ireland winner says: "I suppose when I came up first there was so much expectation with winning handy games in the O'Byrne Cup when an awful lot of counties weren't tuned into the real world. "We had a share of work done before Christmas and we had won three games in succession and there was great interest in it. "However, we got beaten in the O'Byrne final by Meath. That would have been possibly a real good start for myself and the county, winning that O'Byrne Cup because Westmeath's record against the Royal County hasn't been great in big competitions. "The O'Byrne Cup created an exceptional buzz. We were getting big crowds with a lot of games in Mullingar and we were getting a lot of good weather. "Then we went on and drew with Cork down in Cork. Against Longford, we had Rory (O'Connell) sent off and for 10 minutes, they pulled away from us. We just got into a bloody rut when we were on a downward slope. We actually didn't anticipate that it would come down to the way the cards were decked on the last day of the league. "To be honest, I had resigned myself to the fact that it could not be possible that we could hold onto our Division 1 status. I had resigned myself to the fact that the game against Mayo was going to be a game that we were going to use to get a moral victory before we play Offaly in Croke Park. "But as it has worked out now, we can look forward and prepare for the championship. We can say that we held our Division 1 status for the coming year. We can look back at the videos - because I had all the games recorded - and examine our performances with a view to improving certain areas." While O Sé has long familiarized himself with the Westmeath players, he regrets not having had the opportunity to look at the talent on show in last year's local championship. "I was at a bit of a disadvantage when I first came to Westmeath because I hadn't seen any of the games in the local championship. I could have got to the county final replay between The Downs and Athlone, but my own club An Ghaeltacht were playing in the Kerry county final on the same day and I couldn't really turn my back on them because I was already involved with them in an advisory capacity," he recalls. Since the league ended, O Sé has been diligently preparing his team for the Leinster championship clash with Offaly. Not surprisingly, he is happy that the game has been switched from Tullamore to Croke Park. "Between now and the Offaly game, we can dissect and fine comb all the videos and see if we can improve on areas and see if we can give a good account of ourselves in Croke Park. "It'll be nothing strange for me to be taking a team into Croke Park only they'll be wearing different jerseys. It would be strange alright to take a team to Tullamore. I'm always very comfortable in Croke Park - maybe not in the last couple of visits I had up there, but hopefully with a different team this time maybe my luck with change." He continued: "We've stepped things up in training and I'll be up in Westmeath four days a week for as long as we're involved in the championship. I've always considered myself to be a championship man and my target is to be still involved up until August." Tweet

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