The referee who controversially ended last Saturday's NFL Division Four clash between Longford and Limerick at Pearse Park has apologised in his report.

Westmeath official Sean Carroll admitted last night in his official report of the game that he made a mistake in blowing the full-time whistle moments before Longford scored what would have been the game's winning goal.

Under the GAA's new experimental rules, the ball must go dead before the referee can bring the game to an end and Carroll's premature full-time whistle meant that Limerick hung on for a win which kept them top of the table on six points, while Longford sit bottom with no points yet registered.

After viewing the report, the Longford county board are now looking to have the game replayed.

Longford secretary, Peter Reilly told the Irish Star: "Nobody investigated this scenario occurring. There is no answer for it.

"The referee made a genuine error, which he apologised in his report for. We have no gripe with him or Limerick.

"The whole thing is going to decide our year. We had hoped to be in the shake-up for promotion. If it doesn't work out we are in trouble. For a weaker county it is vitally important (to get momentum). We would have put on what we consider to be a good display.

"To be fair to the players and the effort we have put in, in all fairness we have to be seen to (go ahead)." Tweet

Most Read Stories