Seamus McEnaney is hoping for a less gruelling 2012 after admitting that last year was his toughest in management.
The Monaghan native made the switch from his home county to take on the job of looking after Meath’s senior footballers, but the year saw the proud Leinster county narrowly avoid relegation from Allianz Football League Division Two before losing out to Kildare in both the Leinster championship and the All-Ireland qualifiers.
A tight win over Galway in a narrow porous affair prior to the second Kildare defeat summed up much of how fine a line the man known as ‘Banty’ was under though, as his security in his position constantly came under speculation.
He held on, and is looking for a more satisfactory second year in charge of the Royal County, telling the Irish Times: "There's no doubt that it was a tough year to be a manager coming into a new count.
"But sometimes you have to weather these storms. You have to go through them to get to the level ground. I'm looking for a more settled scenario this year, no doubt about that.
"It doesn't make any difference who you're managing in inter-county football, there's pressure in every one of those jobs. (It) doesn't matter if it's Meath or Monaghan or whoever, that pressure is there. It's whether you can deal with that pressure or whether you can't.
"Last year was one of my tougher years, certainly. I've been doing this at inter-county level between senior and U21 for about 10 years on the trot now and I can definitely say I found it harder going last year than most. But that's done now and we face into a new year ready for anything."