Nobody said it was going to be easy
Mike Finnerty | 10 April 2025
Brian Flanagan (L) & Dermot McCabe (R)
Nobody said it was going to be easy.
But that didn’t stop either Brian Flanagan or Dermot McCabe from taking the leap into senior inter-county management last Autumn, and on Saturday evening they will come face to face for the first time on a sideline in the Leinster senior football championship at the newly re-developed St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge.
Two men who have big ambitions of bringing the good times back to Kildare and Westmeath respectively. Flanagan (40), whose playing career was ended prematurely by a serious knee injury at the age of 29, has made a very impressive start to life in the senior football fast lane.
The Kildare squad that he overhauled after taking over from Glenn Ryan were recently promoted from Division 3 of the Allianz League, bouncing straight back up after being relegated 12 months earlier. Five wins from seven games was enough to earn their safe passage back to Division 2 with their only major setback coming when they lost the subsequent League Final to Offaly by two points after shooting 13 wides.
Remarkably, that defeat means that the Lilywhites have only won three games at Croke Park over the last 11 years; a statistic that Brian Flanagan and his players will only get to change if they qualify for this summer’s Leinster Final. For that ambition to be achieved, Flanagan will first have to get the better of the legendary Cavan footballer, Dermot McCabe, who was appointed to the Westmeath hotseat just six weeks after Flanagan took charge of the near-neighbours.
McCabe (48) made a name for himself with the Breffni men during the 1990s, and became the county’s second ever All Star in 1997 after helping them to an historic Ulster SFC title.He also enjoyed success with Gowna, Ulster and the Ireland International Rules team before going on to become a highly-respected coach and manager.
His track record speaks for itself, with McCabe’s CV now boasting two county titles with Gowna, and an Ulster minor and senior championship with Cavan.
A win on Sunday will set up a semi-final showdown with Roscommon.
However, Westmeath’s start to the season — losing six of their seven leagues in Division 2 and being relegated to Division 3 — would suggest they will need to have improved a lot to spring an ambush on Saturday. This slump in form and results hasn’t happened overnight though; Westmeath haven’t won any of the 12 championship or league games they have played since being crowned Division 3 league champions last year. A run of 11 losses and one draw speaks for itself.
Kildare went through a similar run of bad form last year before Brian Flanagan arrived. They have been on an upward trajectory since. Time will tell if the Johnstownbridge man will become the first man since the legendary Mick O’Dwyer to lead Kildare to a Leinster title. He delivered an All-Ireland Under-20 title in 2023, as well as two Leinster championships at that grade, and coached Summerhill to a Meath SFC crown.
Saturday sees the start of a new chapter in the stories of two men trying to manage expectations.