The Leinster champions won a thriller in front of their home fans on Saturday night,<\/a> but McHugh admitted afterwards that he felt Westmeath were disadvantaged by the set-up as Cavan had nearly a month to prepare specifically for them.<\/p>\nThe Westmeath manager said the current system was \u201ca joke\u201d and argued the draw should only be made after the provincial finals are completed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bit that annoyed me, I suppose, and I\u2019m going to say this now \u2014 the draw should never have been made. Like, that was a joke,\u201d said McHugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I didn\u2019t really say it before and if we lost today it would be sour grapes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut to have the draw away back then let Cavan have four weeks on us, that was unfair on us because ultimately we probably didn\u2019t look at Cavan until about ten days out.\u201d<\/p>\n
McHugh pointed to the other provincial winners who found themselves in similar situations this weekend, with beaten sides able to regroup and tailor their plans around confirmed opponents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe same issue favoured Tyrone going down to Roscommon, or Donegal going down to Kerry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they\u2019re so worried about logistics and having draws so early then why is the Round 2 draw not on The Sunday Game tonight instead of this coming Tuesday?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t fair, it just wasn\u2019t fair.\u201d<\/p>\n
McHugh acknowledged Westmeath\u2019s reward for winning Leinster was home advantage, but insisted it still did not balance out the preparation gap.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the home advantage was the plus of getting to the Leinster final, but it wasn\u2019t enough and it wasn\u2019t fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the ambush waiting on you. Kerry got it, Roscommon got it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Westmeath boss also admitted former coach Dermot McCabe played a major role in helping Cavan expose gremlins in their set-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew that was going to happen, and Dermot obviously knew everything about Westmeath,\u201d said McHugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked with him last year and we know what kind of a coach he is. He would have had them ready and he probably pick-pocketed us in our game plan for a while today.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I thought we played a lot of good football and, bar maybe our kick-out press not being up to scratch and maybe a few kick-outs ourselves, there wasn\u2019t much in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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![\"Westmeath](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_mark-mchugh.jpg\")
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