Ryan agrees to return

News: Displaying an unexpected and complete change of heart, Tom Ryan has agreed to return as Westmeath senior hurling manager.

He'll take charge of a team training session on Saturday afternoon, at least confident there'll be a better show than the last one.

Ryan announced his resignation earlier this month when only seven of the 61 invited players attended the first planned Westmeath training session of the season. Two of those seven were also injured. He described the situation as "insulting" and said he was walking away from the position for good.

The players, however, called a meeting amongst themselves last Friday. Ryan wasn't in attendance, but word was sent back of their renewed vows of commitment. And yesterday Westmeath hurling secretary Matty Conaty confirmed that Ryan had agreed to give it another go. "He was satisfied that the players were now willing to make the necessary commitment," explained Conaty. "So he's agreed to come back to training this Saturday. And we're delighted to hold onto him. Thankfully it's worked out they way we'd hoped."

The former Limerick manager was seen to be making good progress with Westmeath, and his unceremonious departure was seen as another setback to the advancement of weaker hurling counties. He had high hopes that Westmeath could make an impact in the second tier of the new hurling championship, which for the first time will provide the less successful counties with a real target for the summer.