Westmeath chairman Sean Sheridan was "very disappointed" by club delegates' decision to remove Paul Bealin as Lake County manager.

A counter proposal from delegates at Wednesday night's executive meeting culminated in the former Dublin midfielder being relieved of his duties in the midlands. Westmeath lost all twelve of their competitive matches in 2014 but Sheridan feels that 'Bealo' brought a "professional approach" to the post and should have been allowed to see out his three-year term:

"I am very disappointed," he says in The Irish Examiner. "He put in a serious effort. He was coming up from Castletown in Wexford up to Athlone and Mullingar three and four times a week. He was putting in a big commitment. I know the players were putting in a big commitment as well.

"The professional approach he brought, he brought something special to Westmeath that I haven't seen in my two years as chairman. We are a small county which has been hit by emigration. We haven't got the panel. To stick that at Paul Bealin, I am disappointed.

"Paul Bealin is very disappointed. All he can do is put a team in place, prepare the team and try to win games. That didn't happen. Division One is a very tough division. Westmeath were never going to do well in that division. We were hoping to learn from it.

"We didn't do well in the championship and that was the big debate on Wednesday night that we lost all twelve games this year. Who do you blame? Do you blame a referee for losing a game when a game is over? It is just blame the manager at all times.

"I was trying to impress upon the delegates Paul's professional approach. There is no point bringing in a manager for one year. I don't think Paul would have come on board had he known it was for one year. I don't know any manager who would agree to a job for one year. We are building a young team and Paul put a package in place for three years. He had a big job to do and he wasn't finished." Tweet

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