'Nobody heard the hooter' - McCabe

Westmeath senior football manager Dermot McCabe claimed the hooter sounded before Meath scored the winning goal in Sunday's NFL Division 2 game at TEG Cusack Park.

However, amid a frenzied, raucous atmosphere, the referee allowed play to continue and the visitors got the winning score to claim a 3-14 to 1-17 victory. McCabe felt the full-time whistle should have sounded before the goal was scored.

"It's my understanding, if the ball's in the air, play continues. In this case, the ball was caught on the 70 minutes, the hooter went and unfortunately (from our point of view) the Meath player finished a brilliant goal. But immediately when I looked at the catch, I looked at the scoreboard and it was 70-03," remarked Dermot McCabe afterwards.

"The hooter was sounding, the noise was immense, so nobody heard it.

"I think we learn, we belt on, and we'll be stronger the next day. There's no point in crying over sour milk. We're not that type of people, but it'll just be interesting, I suppose, what's said and done on this. It's fine when the hooter goes in Croke Park, but when you have a passionate crowd, I don't know what, the crowd was here today, and it was hugely exciting for everyone. It's going to be hard.

"You want a very good hooter - maybe have it in the middle of the field or something like that!."