Meath manager Colm O’Rourke has explained how Mathew Costello wanted to play in Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC clash against Louth, just hours after the passing of his father Paul.

The Dunshaughlin youngster battled through enormous personal grief to line out for his county and opened the scoring before Louth fought back for a 3-10 to 0-9 win.

“It struck a very sombre note when we met today that Mat’s dad had just passed away,” O’Rourke told reporters after the game.

“We said to him if he didn’t want to play not to come, that we were completely understanding of that. But he was insistent that he wanted to play and we accommodated that.

"I wouldn’t use it as an excuse, once the team went on the pitch, they had to get in with it and unfortunately it didn’t work out very well in that regard.”

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