Managan predicts further success for ladies
May 20, 2012Mangan was assisted by Peter Leahy last year when the Lake County won the Division 4 crown before Westmeath added the TG4 All-Ireland intermediate title last September.
This year, Mangan is working alongside his former Westmeath teammate Martin Flangan and the duo have masterminded Division 3 glory with last Saturday's replay victory over Leitrim at Emmet Park, Killoe.
Westmeath, who now have Division 2 football to look forward to in 2013, will now focus their attention on the TG4 Leinster senior semi-final against Meath on July 1.
Mangan, who won a Leinster SFC medal in 2004, reflected: "These girls are a serious bunch and coming up two divisions in two years is something that not many teams have done."
The only blot on Westmeath's copy was a tally of 18 wides - evenly split between both halves.
But Mangan insisted: "If we can convert those chances into scores, we'll be a serious senior team over the next few years.
"There's no point in taking personal credit - it's a team thing.
"Last year, we had Danny McDermott and Mick Reynolds in as selectors and Peter Leahy was an outstanding co manager. They probably did more work than me because I was involved with so many teams. With Martin coming in this year, I had no end of help for me and the team. He has the experience of playing with Westmeath and Leinster for as many years as he did but we have a brilliant backroom team also. It's brilliant for me to be in charge but it's all about the girls - I had my day playing and it's great to see them getting success."
Mangan added: "We're playing Meath and obviously Meath will be overwhelming favourites but we'll give as good as we get. We might get them on a bad day but if the girls can produce a performance like that and not kick as many wides, we might be a force to be reckoned with."
A generally entertaining fixture, played in front of a healthy crowd estimated in the region of 1500, was settled in the closing minutes when Westmeath hit four successive points to put the issue beyond doubt, the final two supplied by sub Emma Morris.
Leitrim were over-reliant on the attacking prowess of Áine Tighe, who had scored eight points in the drawn match at Parnell Park.
Tighe hit 1-6 last Saturday but after scoring 1-5 before half-time, the lethal corner forward was restricted to just a converted free in the second half.
At the midway point, Leitrim led by 1-5 to 1-4 but Westmeath had raced into an early 1-2 to 0-1 lead, the goal scored by full-forward Karen Hegarty.
But Leitrim, who had been denied by two superb Christine Warburton saves, hit back at the best possible time, when Tighe finished a flowing move instigated by midfielder Sinead Fowley before half-time.
Tighe and Fowley exchanged a neat one-two before the Kiltubrid attacker brilliantly for Leitrim's goal in a tie that was marred somewhat by the high tally of 59 frees whistled by match referee PJ Rabbitte.
It was a strike that handed her team a slender one-point lead but the second half was a stop-start affair, pockmarked by stoppages and injuries to players.
Leitrim lost the services of Lorraine Brennan to the sin bin for a ten-minute spell but during that time, Westmeath could only outscore their opponents by 0-2 to 0-1.
It appeared that missed chances might cost Westmeath but they finished with a flourish as Leitrim were held to just two points during the entire second half. Tweet
