Colin Kelly has been ratified as the new manager of the Westmeath footballers at tonight's county board meeting.

The former Louth boss been handed a two-year term in charge of the Lake County and replaces Kildare native Tom Cribbin who stepped down from the position in July after three years.

Kelly led his home county Louth to back-to-back Allianz FL promotions and a return to Division 2, during a three-year stint which he called time on shortly after the Wee County's championship exit at the hands of Longford.

Westmeath will be aiming to emulate Louth's achievements under Kelly in 2018 when they aim for successive league promotions having landed the Division 4 title in comfortable fashion last Spring.

The 2017 championship campaign saw the Ger Egan captained side beat neighbours Offaly in the Leinster quarter-final (after a replay) for the second year running before going down heavily to Dublin and narrowly to Armagh.

Many Westmeath fans were hoping to see Cribbin's successor come from within the county but the selection committee have once again opted for an outsider which means Brian Murtagh remains the last native to manage the midlanders at this level - 25 years ago.

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