Former county hurler Eamonn Gallagher is entering his second year as a Westmeath football selector. Despite a disappointing 2007 championship, he is looking ahead with great optimism and expresses the view that the Lake County are capable of making a big impact in the months ahead. Eamonn Gallagher is facing a hectic 2008. If being a county football selector wasn't already taking up enough of his time, he has also agreed to resume his role as manager of the Killucan football and Raharney hurling teams. "Killucan and Raharney asked me if I'd go back to them this year and, after a bit of thought, I said I would," he explains. "However, I told them I wouldn't be available until Westmeath were out of the championship and in the meantime Johnny Greville will train Raharney and Noel Croash will train Killucan. Hopefully, they won't see me until September!" the Dalystown man jokes. It was during his previous stint as manager of the Killucan and Raharney teams that Gallagher caught the eye of Westmeath football supremo Tomas O Flatharta. In 2005, he led Killucan to an intermediate championship triumph and the following year they took the senior championship by storm when they reached the semi-final, only to lose narrowly to eventual champions Tyrrellspass. Also in 2006, he guided Raharney to their first senior hurling success in 12 years following a replay win over Castletown-Geoghegan. "It wasn't that difficult to combine the two jobs because I was basically working with the same group of players. You had the same lads on the Raharney team as you had on the Killucan team," he says. Not long after Raharney's championship win, Tomas O Flatharta came knocking. He was looking for new selectors to replace Paddy Collins and Frank Mescall, and Eamonn and Paul Conway, who had just retired from inter-county football, were the two men he had in mind. "I decided to give it a go because I saw it as a great opportunity to learn about what's involved in managing a team at the highest level. It was also a great honour to be asked to be a selector with your county team. "I've built up a good working relationship with Tomas and Paul, and with Tommy Kelly, who was recently added to the management set-up." Westmeath made a dream start to 2007, winning their first three matches in Division 1B, but defeats in their remaining four games resulted in them competing in Division 2 of the restructured National League this spring. They played some outstanding football in the first half of the Leinster championship clash against Luke Dempsey's Longford at Pearse Park, only to suffer a dramatic second half fade-out. When Westmeath walloped Longford in their All-Ireland qualifier rematch eight weeks later, supporters began dreaming of another extended championship run, but it wasn't to be as National League champions Donegal gave the home side a footballing lesson to run out comfortable winners in the next round at Mullingar. "We would have liked a longer run in the championship, and it was disappointing that we didn't get that, but our league form wasn't bad and the least we deserved was to be playing in Division 2 this year. We got off a whirlwind start, winning our first three games, and were only beaten narrowly in three of our other four games." Gallagher dismisses the notion that Westmeath peaked too soon last year, claiming that the first half performance against Longford in the Leinster championship was as good as he has seen the team produce. "We were absolutely flying in the first half against Longford, it was exhibition stuff, and we probably should have been more than eight points up at half-time. But they got two quick goals at the start of the second half and they grew in confidence after that. When a team gets a run on you like Longford did that day, it can be very hard to stop the slide," he says. After a poor O'Byrne Cup campaign which saw Westmeath struggle against DIT and Dublin, most bookies installed them as favourites for relegation from Division 2. However, Eamonn is confident that this won't happen and takes a great deal of encouragement from the improvement that was evident in three weeks between the O'Byrne Cup and National League games against Dublin. "I'm very optimistic about our chances of retaining our Division 2 status. We showed a marked improvement on the O'Byrne Cup game against Dublin when we played them again in the first round of the league, and I'd expect that improvement to continue in the coming weeks and months. Division 2 is just as strong as Division 1 is this year and that's the level we want to be competing at. "Defensively, we are strong as anyone and David Duffy has come on in leaps and bounds at midfield. There is no disputing the fact that we are lacking quality forwards. We're without Denis Glennon at the moment, but I'm hopeful that he'll be back before the league ends. He's a great talent and we can't afford to be without him." Westmeath used the O'Byrne Cup to blood a number of young players and, while no new Martin Flanagans or Dessie Dolans were unearthed, Eamonn is hoping the newcomers will prove themselves over a period of time. "It's a big step-up for any young lad to come in from his club and to play at that level. It takes time to adjust to that pace, but I would hope that once they improve their fitness levels, they will start to prove themselves. Overall, they are a great bunch of players who are working really hard and I couldn't criticise them in any way." Westmeath open their Leinster championship campaign with another trip to Pearse Park and, after last year's ill-fated visit to Longford GAA headquarters, it's no surprise to hear that Eamonn is taking nothing for granted. "While I believe there is great potential in this team and that it is capable of making a big impact this year, I'm not looking beyond Longford in the first round. That's the game we're gearing all our preparations towards. It's going to be a very tough match, maybe even tougher than last year. Longford had a great run in the O'Byrne Cup and are playing with a lot of confidence. And after what happened last year, there will be a lot of extra spice to the fixture." Growing up in Dalystown, which is situated on the main Mullingar-Kilbeggan road, Eamonn's first love was hurling, and he was one of four brothers to represent the local St. Brigid's club with distinction. Like his older brother Ollie, who was a star goalkeeper for club and county throughout the 1970s, Eamonn began his hurling career between the posts before moving outfield at the age of 16. He played most of his hurling as a half forward or corner forward and represented his county at senior level from 1981 to '93. Eamonn won All-Ireland 'B' championship medals in 1984 and '91 and was part of the Westmeath team that achieved promotion to Division 1 of the National Hurling League in 1986 and was unlucky to lose to Kilkenny in the quarter-final of the same competition. During that same period, Westmeath regularly beat the likes of Galway, Tipperary and Offaly, but decline set in following the departure of a number of key players to the US. Eamonn also won an intermediate football championship medal with Tyrrellspass in 1991 and was in goal when they lost the 1994 senior decider to Mullingar Shamrocks. He began his management career with St. Brigid's and has since had spells in charge of St. Joseph's, Turin, Brownstown, Killucan and Raharney. Tweet

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