The former Limerick goalkeeper and two-time All- Ireland finalist said his long-term goal with Westmeath is to get them “up into the top echelons of Leinster hurling”.

The former Kildare manager said he’ll take inspiration from the achievement of Limerick, who ended their 45-year wait for an All-Ireland title last month.

Quaid took over from Michael Ryan, who guided Westmeath to the inaugural McDonagh Cup final this year and a creditable 2-21 to 0-16 All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final defeat to Wexford.

“Look, it is a challenge, it’s a massive challenge, but it’s something we relish,” said Quaid of his new role. “If you don’t have challenges in life, if you don’t have something to aspire to, you may as well give up.

We saw in Limerick this year what they achieved. We buried 45 years of hurt and despair. That’s what we want to [do], to get that kind of mentality into the Westmeath hurling people.

“The one thing I’d ask of the hurling people in Westmeath is that we’ll do our best to give them a product that they’ll enjoy coming to see, long-term, but they need to back the players. We need good crowds at the matches and we’ll give them something to shout about.”

Ex-All-Star Quaid insisted there’ll be no quick fixes for Westmeath, but said he genuinely believes they can earn promotion to the Leinster championship proper and, in time, be competitive at that level.

“We want to come in and bring it to another level, I suppose,” Quaid told Midlands Radio. “The long-term goal would be to get Westmeath up into the top echelons of Leinster hurling, but also be able to sustain it up there and drive on.

There’s no point we coming in and giving an initial blitz to them up to win Division 2A and get out of the Joe McDonagh and just be a yo-yo team. We want to put the structures in place, and a plan in place that, when we do go up, that we’re able to sustain it and drive on from that.

“There’s a lot of work being done in the background with the county board and everything in relation to getting structures in place, that it provides a conveyor belt for me or whoever comes in after us in Westmeath, so that it can be up where it should rightfully be.”

However, Quaid warned the existing Westmeath panel that nobody’s position is safe looking to 2019.

“At the moment, there is no Westmeath hurling panel,” he said. “Everybody will have to prove themselves to us. It’s not a case that we’re going to be going on what happened previously, I don’t buy into that. It’s the here and now, what somebody is willing to give, the commitment they’re willing to give and basically their skills levels and what they’re going to do for Westmeath. There’ll be nobody in the panel on reputations. We’ll take everyone on their own merits.”