Westmeath boss Dermot McCabe rages at Meath's controversial winner

Westmeath manager Dermot McCabe was left fuming after a controversial last-gasp goal handed fierce rivals Meath victory when the sides met at TEG Cusack Park.

A goal from Conor Duke with the very last kick of the game won the day for Meath, as they edged to a 3-14 to 1-17 victory.

The result keeps up Meath's drive for promotion from Division 2 while Westmeath, who shot 12 wides to their opponents' four, remain pointless despite several close shaves in their campaign to date.

However after full-time, a clearly frustrated McCabe insisted that Duke’s goal should not have stood and that it was scored after the allotted time of 70 minutes.

The Westmeath boss also suggested that an advantage was not played in full before Meath were awarded a free kick which led to that goal.

"I'm just frustrated for the lads," McCabe told RTÉ Sport. "You know, they put in a huge effort. We've had setback after setback with injuries and even two of our players, Ronan Wallace and Kevin O'Sullivan, pulled up in the warm-up and weren't able to start the game.

"I would have felt that the rule is the rule, when the hooter goes on 70 and you score it on 70:03, then it's not a goal.

 "The second point is that we had an arm up, the advantage is meant to go on for 10 seconds,  but three seconds later, there was a free out.

"I'm sure there'll be reasons, I'm sure the FRC will get around to it and they'll apologize or something like that tonight."

While he was unable to hide his frustration at the decisions that went against his side, McCabe insisted that he holds no ill-will against referee Barry Judge.

The Westmeath boss believes that the rule changes from the Football Review Committee has left referees in an impossible position.

"It's really difficult for the