Harry Murphy described the passage of play that saw Wicklow miss a penalty and Meath score a freak goal at the other end as "30 seconds of madness".

Seanie Furlong had a golden opportunity to put the Garden County two points up from a 33rd minute penalty, but his weak shot was saved by Paddy O'Rourke and within seconds, Kevin Reilly's hopeful punt from 65 metres bounced over Wicklow 'keeper John Flynn and into the net.

"Madness. 30 seconds of madness. We missed a penalty and they came down and got that goal," the Wicklow manager ruefully reflected.

"John Flynn made some great saves for us and that thing happened. I feel sorry for the chap, he's devastated in there but that's football. The wind played a huge part in the game. We played very well in the first half. It's hard to take."

Wicklow must now travel to the Athletic Grounds to face Armagh in the first round of the All-Ireland qualifiers - not the draw Murphy was looking forward.

"You could be up north somewhere and that wouldn't be a great place to be going," he said after Saturday evening's game.

"But the lads will be alright. We'll be at training Tuesday night and the ones that didn't play well know that will be a chance to do better." Tweet

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