Westmeath manager Pat Flanagan will have to plan without star forward Conor Lynam this year.

The 21-year-old St. Loman's sharpshooter, who is currently recovering from a broken leg, plans to spend the second half of 2012 in the US and has decided not to play in the NFL as he believes he would be depriving others of the chance to stake their claim for championship places.

"I love playing for Westmeath, but this is something I always wanted to do," Lynam said in this week's Westmeath Topic.

"I'm finishing my construction studies course in DIT in May and I'm going to go to either New York or Chicago after that. My plan is to stay over there until next Christmas and come back then. I was going to go last year - after St. Loman's played Tyrrellspass in the third round of the championship - but decided to stay. But I've made up my mind to go this year because I mightn't get a chance like this again."

He continued: "I could play in the league for Westmeath, but my attitude is: 'if you're not going to play in the championship, you shouldn't be playing in the league'. Besides, it would be unfair to others if I was keeping them off the team when I wouldn't be around for the championship."

In a further blow to the Lake County, Ger Egan is set to miss the first two rounds of the NFL against Louth and Meath on February 5 and 12 respectively after damaging the medial ligament in his knee while playing for Athlone IT against Longford in the opening round of the O'Byrne Cup last Sunday week, January 8. It was initially feared that the Tyrrellspass clubman - who is still U21 - had ruptured his cruciate ligament, but those fears were allayed when he got the results of a scan on Monday night.

"I'll be out for six weeks, but it could have been an awful lot worse," a relieved Egan said.

"If it had been the cruciate ligament, I would have been gone for the rest of the year. I went to spin out of a tackle, but my foot got stuck in the ground and the knee swelled up badly the next day. I haven't been able to walk properly since.

"My aim now is to be back for the Leinster U21 championship quarter-final against either Wicklow or Carlow on March 7. I'm not too worried about missing the start of the league because there are seven games in it and I should still be able to play in four or five of those." Tweet

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