Joe Quaid is baffled by Westmeath's decision to dispense with his services as hurling manager after just one year.
The former All-Star Limerick goalkeeper led the Lake County to the Division 2A and Kehoe Cup titles and the Joe McDonagh Cup final in his one, largely successful term in charge.
Westmeath were well beaten by Laois at Croke Park and missed out on promotion to the Leinster Championship for the second year in succession but will play in Division 1 in 2020.
The county released a statement on Tuesday night announcing "we will not be renewing our association with Joe Quaid as Westmeath senior hurling manager for the forthcoming season" but gave no explanation for the decision.
"I'm still trying to get my head around it," Quaid told the Irish Daily Mirror.
"I waited until they released a statement to see exactly why I have been released but having read it I am none the wiser still.
"All I can say is that I got a call from a Westmeath county board representative at the start of the week and at the start of the call he said they had some issues and that he didn’t think they could be resolved. It became clear as the call went on that I wouldn’t be coming back.
"I just couldn’t believe it. I still can’t. I was only in the job one season and brought the team to three finals in that time. We won two of those finals.
"Sure, we lost the McDonagh Cup final to Laois, but they have since shown just how good they are."
Quaid added that "cultural differences" was the only suggested reason he received and that he was denied the opportunity to meet with the county board to discuss the matter.
