Westmeath GAA have given their full backing to James McGrath after the experienced referee stood down from inter-county games after his All-Ireland SHC final snub.

The Turin clubman announced that he would not be part of the inter-county refereeing panel anymore after how he felt he was unfairly treated by the Central Referees' Appointments Committee.

Wexford's James Owens has been chosen as the referee for Sunday's All-Ireland SHC final between Galway and Limerick, with McGrath failing to even make the back up team.

McGrath has come in for a lot of criticism for his handling and timing of the matter, but Westmeath GAA chairman Billy Foley told the Westmeath Examiner that they are fully behind McGrath's decision.

"We would like to express our solidarity with James," said Foley. "We think James has been a wonderful servant to Westmeath GAA. In our opinion he's the best referee in Ireland.

"He really refereed wonderfully all year and we're very disappointed that he didn't get the match. Even if he never got the match, he certainly should be involved in All-Ireland final day for all his efforts this year. We thought all the games he refereed, he refereed extremely well.

"At the same time, it's nothing against James Owens. We wish him the very best of luck in the final. But we'd be very disappointed along with James that he didn't get the All-Ireland."

McGrath did referee the All-Ireland SHC final replays in 2012 and 2013, but has never been called up for the original fixture.

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