Seoirse Bulfin was forced to step down as Westmeath hurling manager after just one season amid ‘tortuous’ criticism, county board chairman Frank Mescall has revealed.

The Bruff man departed the Lake County hotseat earlier this month after a disappointing season that yielded just two wins against Down and Kerry in the Joe McDonagh Cup. Westmeath hurling clubs will meet in the coming days to decide the process for appointing Bulfin’s successor.

“He just couldn't face another year. ‘It was tortuous’ was how he described it," Mescall told a recent county board meeting.

 "He voiced that. He felt that he hadn’t, from day one, the support of the clubs, or of management, which is sad.”

Replying to a claim from Castlepollard delegate Johnny Rabbitt that Bulfin shouldn’t have been appointed in the first place when both Castlepollard and neighbouring Lough Lene Gaels were vocal in their opposition, the Westmeath chairman said: “They did, and that’s on record, and now they will say they were right, and the appointment was wrong. That’s one way to look at it; maybe it’s right - I don’t know.

“Hindsight is brilliant. If we all had it, we’d be geniuses. But that attitude prevailed throughout the whole year. He never got a fair crack of the whip.”

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