The managers of both West Meath and Carlow agreed afterwards that they were baffled by some of the decisions made by the referee, Niall Barrett from Cork, when they spoke to reporters after the game. Brendan Lowry, the West Meath manager, was as confused as his counterpart Cyril Hughes.
"I have to be careful what I say to you guys, but it seems to me a pity that all of the discussion will be about the referee, the bookings, the sendings-off and so on when all these lads have put such an effort into this match. "I feel sorry for Carlow. I know how hard they have worked for so many years without anything to show for it. I know they will carry on and be back again next year. "As for us? We have our hopes. We have put a lot of effort into young players and it is beginning to come together. We have a way to go, but we can't live off one victory. We don't know who we are going to meet in the next round, but we have other things on our minds as well," he said. He was clearly referring to the All-Ireland under-21 final against Kerry next Saturday in Limerick, but he would not be drawn on the issue of whether under-21 members of the senior panel had "been spared" from the rigours of the championship match against Carlow.
Carlow team manager Cyril Hughes was, understandably, glum.
"I am as surprised as everybody else about the sendings-off and the bookings. It is a physical contact sport after all and, if you take the physical aspect out of it, what have you left?
"Quite honestly I cannot understand why anyone should have been sent off today. It was not a dirty match. The conditions with wind and rain gave problems to the players, but there was no dirty play. I am sorry for all the lads who were sent off.
"It is hard to accept that we have seen 10 hard months of work go down the drain like that. I am proud of what our lads did today. Nobody could ask for more. They are very down right now, but they will recover. The spirit in the team is great and they deserve a lot of credit for a courageous performance," he said.
