A crestfallen Mick O'Dowd was making no excuses after Meath's incredible late collapse against Westmeath.

Leading by nine points with 20 minutes remaining, the Royals were outscored 2-8 to 0-1 in a sensational finale as they succumbed to their near-neighbours in the championship for the first time.

"We came up focused on reaching a Leinster final, a fourth Leinster final in-a-row," the Meath manager said.

"In the first half we played some really good football, but we probably weren't clinical enough. Full credit to Westmeath - in the second half they never gave up. We went ahead in the second half - we were 10 up at one stage - but we kept leaving the door open and credit to them for taking their opportunity.

"To be in such a commanding position, playing such good football - I don't know if that was to do with the overall maturity of the team. Meath are a young team, but Westmeath played with an abandon in the second half and a couple of guys got key scores for them."

Tweet

Most Read Stories