Brian Hanley is on the brink of agreeing to become Westmeath's new hurling manager.

The Lake County made no secret of their desire to hand the Athenry man the role on a permanent basis after he oversaw a dramatic improvement in their fortunes following his appointment in a caretaker capacity in April. And following the recent exit of Galway city club Liam Mellows - who Hanley also managed - from the Galway SHC, he is ready to throw in his lot with Westmeath.

Hanley will present a development plan to club delegates in Mullingar next Thursday which he is confident they will give their full support to.

"I'm going to meet the clubs next week to go through the development plan with them," he explained.

"The plan will apply to the senior, under 21 and minor teams. There has never really been structures put in place in Westmeath before and it's needed. Westmeath needs a professional set-up and the players and county board must be prepared to buy into it." Tweet

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