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    Mark McHugh named new Westmeath manager 

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    By Irishexaminer.com,John Fogarty

    Copyright irishexaminer

    Mark McHugh named new Westmeath manager 

    McHugh’s set-up comprises assistant manager/selector Emmet McDonnell (Coralstown Kinnegad); head coach/selector Ryan Daly (Tyrone), coach Stephen “Archie” Beattie (Tyrone), selector Jamie Gonoud (Tyrrellspass) and head of performance/strength and conditioning Tom Gribben (Armagh).

    The Kilcar man has also worked with Galway club Moycullen, the Donegal senior football ladies team as well as the Fermanagh minors.

    Westmeath and Down will be among the favourites to earn promotion from Division 3 having been relegated this year. Westmeath will be drawn in the first round of the 2026 Leinster championship.

    McHugh’s appointment means Fermanagh are the only county on the island yet to confirm a manager for the upcoming season. In August, Kieran Donnelly stepped down after five years in charge.

    Meanwhile, the 2026 All-Ireland senior football championship is set to begin on the weekend of April 12, a week later than last year.

    Roscommon confirmed on Tuesday their Connacht SFC quarter-final against New York will take place in Gaelic Park at 8pm Irish time.

    The National Football League finals are pencilled in for March 28/29. It is hoped the two-week break between the league and provincial championships will ensure more Division 1 counties are serious about reaching and winning the final.

    Kerry’s All-Ireland-winning manager Jack O’Connor argued his team claimed the Division 1 title this year almost by a lack of interest shown by their opponents.

    “The way we won the league, we almost won the league by default I would suggest,” he said in July. “We went into the last two games facing relegation, including the last game against Galway. If we lost that day there was a good chance we were going to get relegated.”

    That additional gap has made possible by the new All-Ireland SFC format, which is one less round of games than the outgoing structure. It means the Connacht and Munster finals are expected to move to the second weekend in May and the Leinster and Ulster deciders the following weekend.

    The first round of the Sam Maguire Cup for the Connacht and Munster winners is set to begin two weeks after the finals and the same for the two other provinces. All eight provincial finalists will have home advantage in Round 1 against the seven league qualifiers and this year’s Tailteann Cup winners Kildare with the eight victors going into Round 2A and the losers trying to avoid a championship exit in Round 2B.

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