The next Westmeath football manager will be either Pat Flanagan or Dessie Dolan Snr.

The deadline for nominations closed last Saturday and they were the only two names received by the county board executive from clubs. Offaly man Pat Flanagan was appointed as interim manager for the duration of Westmeath's championship involvement last April and, according to football board chairman Des Maguire is "very interested" in taking on the job on a full-time basis.

Flanagan guided the Lake County to a Leinster SFC quarter-final victory over Wicklow just six weeks after replacing the ousted Brendan Hackett, but disappointing performances against Louth in the Leinster semi-final and Derry in the All-Ireland qualifiers could scupper his chances of continuing in the role.

Like Flanagan, Dolan - who is currently in charge of Roscommon outfit Clann na nGael - was also in for the job this time last year, but wasn't even afforded an interview. This led to his son, Dessie Jnr, refusing to play under Hackett, but he returned to the fold following Flanagan's appointment.

"We will be following the Croke Park guidelines as far as the interview and appointment process is concerned and hope to have the new man in place before the county championship semi-finals in mid-September," Westmeath chairman Tom Farrell told hoganstand.com Tweet

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