Westmeath may have lost yesterday's Leinster MFC final to Kildare, but they still made history by becoming the first inter-county team to field three black players in a provincial decider.

Israel Ilunga, Boidu Sayeh and Sam Omokuro lined out at full back, left corner back and midfield respectively in the Lake County's 2-7 to 2-15 defeat to the Lilywhites at Croke Park. Ilunga plays his club football with Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall, Sayeh with Rosemount and Omokuro - who is still U16 - with Athlone.

Interestingly, the GAA made no attempt to gaelicise their names in the match programme, as is tradition.

"It is the society we live in now. It is superb, it is wonderful to see," Westmeath manager Tommy Carr is quoted as saying in the Irish Times.

"They are there on merit as everybody has seen them play throughout the year. Like all things, after a while, you don't see whether they are black or white or green. You just want to see if they can play left-half back or right-half forward. That's really the only thing that counts."

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that the GAA's national children's officer, Gearóid Ó Maoilmhichíl, will investigate claims that Ilunga was racially abused during Westmeath's Leinster semi-final win over Meath. The full back was sent off after he was allegedly provoked by racist taunting from an opponent, but was cleared to play yesterday after winning his appeal on Thursday night. Tweet

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