Leitrim were incensed with referee Aidan Mangan from Kerry on Saturday after Wicklow escaped from their home patch of Aughrim with a one-point win over the men from Connacht.

Referee Mangan had to be escorted off the field as Leitrim players and officials vented their anger over being denied what they felt should have been a penalty.

Late substitute, Terry Kelleher, looked to be grounded in the Wicklow goal-mouth in the dying moments of the game, but the referee opted for a throw-in ball after consulting his umpire.

Wicklow then swept upfield for centre forward Ronan Coffey - who had switched to play in midfield in the second half - to fire over the winning point two minutes into injurytime.

Leitrim were furious as, shortly before this, they had clawed their way back from an eight-point deficit at the break to draw level with Wicklow at 28 each.

Substitute Jimmy McGuckian had scored Leitrim's first goal in the second half after 52 minutes - the other came three minutes from the end from full back John McKeown - shortly before he and centre forward Fintan McBrien were sent off by referee Mangan to add to Leitrim's anger.

Wicklow never played with the same rhythm and purpose that helped them beat Dublin the in the O'Byrne Cup three weeks earlier.

They were always struggling at midfield, where Brendan McGuckian held sway for Leitrim.

Indeed, Leitrim also had the upper hand in the second quarter of the game and Wicklow only established their eight-point cushion at the break (2-4 to 0-2) with a last-minute goal by corner forward Jonathan Behan who managed to stab the ball to the net from a Keith Byrne pass.

Wicklow's first goal came after 13 minutes in their one purple patch in this game and it was scored by full forward Tommy Gill.

It followed good build-up work by Keith Byrne and Jonathan Behan, who delivered the final pass.

WICKLOW: R Hollingsworth; M Coffey, B Whelan, S Cush; G Jameson, B O'Donovan, O O hAnnaidh; R Stapleton, S O'Neill; K Byrne (0- 2), R Coffey (0-1), A Mernagh; P Callaghan, T Gill (1-3), J Behan (1-2). Subs: T Harney for Stapleton; G Doran (0-1) for O'Neill; D Dillon for Mernagh.

LEITRIM: G Phelan; D Kelleher, J McKeown (1-0), F Reynolds; P McGarry, C Murray (0-1), O McGuinness; P McDermott, B McGuckian; M Duignan, F McBrien (0-1), P Kieran (0-3); J McGuinness, A Rooney (0-2), S Canning. Subs: G Foley for D Kelleher; J McGuckian (1- 1) for J McGuinness; A Charles for M Duignan; T Kelleher for S Canning.

Referee: A Mangan (Kerry).