In one of the more predictable outcomes of the current Bank of Ireland provincial football final circuit, Meath were far too strong for a poor Dublin side at Croke Park yesterday. Although the final margin was only five points, it could have been double that without flattering the new Leinster champions.

So tight have these matches been over the last two decades that even a five-point win constituted the second-highest winning margin in the 17 meetings between the counties at championship level since 1983. It was Dublin's heaviest defeat by their neighbours since 1964.

There's no great mystery about where it all went wrong for Dublin. From the start they were under pressure despite winning serviceable amounts of possession from the centrefield work of Ciaran Whelan, particularly, and Brian Stynes who competed with John McDermott and Nigel Crawford.

Whelan nearly delivered a spectacular score in the 18th minute when he put in a lung-bursting solo right through the Meath cover only to drift his shot wide.

Meath's defence shackled their opponents from the start and it was clear that Dublin would need a good supply of ball if they were to make a decisive impact on proceedings. Such encouragement as could be gleaned from the early exchanges centred on two eminently kickable frees missed by Trevor Giles.

This proved very much a false dawn as Giles recovered his radar and despite some close early marking by Jonathan McGee, asserted himself fully by the end of the match from both play and frees.

In the fifth minute, Dublin had what was to be their only clearcut chance of a goal. Jason Sherlock eluded the cover and found himself one-on-one with Cormac Sullivan in the Meath goal; but in a situation where more would be expected from him, he saw his shot blocked and cleared.

This was in keeping with a frustrating start for Sherlock who got little sympathy in early exchanges from referee Mick Curley.

Scoring was still tight and up to the 20th minute there were only three scores registered, the first in the eighth minute from Jim Gavin to give Dublin the lead and four minutes later a double salvo from Giles and Ollie Murphy.

Murphy was to be the key influence on the afternoon and in his sharpness and clinical finishing he personified the difference between the teams. At the end of the 70 minutes he had amassed 1-5 from play, including the 59th-minute goal which pushed Dublin beyond the line of no return.

The failure of Dublin's bench to do anything about the fearful difficulties he was posing Peadar Andrews was one of the main talking-points of the afternoon. Andrews beat his man to a couple of early balls but struggled thereafter. Soon Murphy was obviously fancying his chances of a score any time the ball came his way - which was frequently enough to cause extreme difficulties in the left corner of Dublin's defence. Half of Meath's first-half total came from this.

It might have been worse had Murphy converted a good goal chance at the end of the first half instead of hitting it wide only for Paddy Moran - who bizarrely spent the first few minutes at wing back after following Evan Kelly out during a pre-match forward shuffle - obligingly to deflect the ball out for a 45. Murphy's three-minute blast between the 56th and 59th minutes yielded 1-2. Dublin manager Tom Carr had apparently been trying to switch Andrews and full back Paddy Christie, who had successfully subdued Meath captain Graham Geraghty, before the goal but had been unable to get the message out to his full-back line.

In the low-scoring exchanges of the first half, it was possible for Dublin to keep in touch but they were going to need enhanced scoring power if a serious challenge was to emerge. It was therefore a disaster which befell the team in the 16th minute when captain and centre forward Des Farrell had to leave the pitch with an injury to his Achilles tendon.

In the sequence leading up to this calamity, Dublin's loss was plain to see. He took possession under the Hogan Stand and stood like an American Football quarter-back weighing up the options before initiating a slick, if ultimately unsuccessful, move with Sherlock and Enda Sheehy. His departure caused all sorts of problems for Dublin. Replacement Ray Cosgrove never got into the match and had to be substituted himself in the 49th minute. Without Farrell the chances of the team being able to exploit Ian Robertson's first-half edge on Darren Fay receded.

Meath had picked up their own injury with Enda McManus having to go off with a pulled muscle. The subsequent reshuffle brought Donal Curtis back to the defence and Richie Kealy in as substitute.

Nonetheless, the second half started with Dublin only two points in arrears, 0-4 to 0-6, albeit with a strong breeze facing them. In the third quarter, it was possible to believe that they could stay in touch as, on the scoreboard, a win remained within their reach.

But all the evidence on the pitch was that Meath would pull away. McDermott was asserting himself at centrefield, the defence was as tight - conceding nothing from play in this quarter - and Giles was beginning to drive the attack. Nigel Nestor, who gave a display of almighty industry, was also pushing forward and with the Murphy menace still lurking in the corner, a heavy defeat could never have been far from the forebodings of the Dublin supporters in the capacity crowd of 56,315.

The dam burst with Murphy's goal. Giles won a difficult possession from McGee and Moran and picked out his corner forward with a well-judged ball in behind the beleaguered Andrews. Once in the clear, Murphy finished accurately and powerfully to the corner of David Byrne's net.

With the margin now at seven points, 1-12 to 0-8, Meath were in the clear. Dublin would need goals to come back into the match and despite Sherlock's speed off the mark, he was well marshalled by Mark O'Reilly and didn't succeed in getting in on goal although he worked the area diligently.

A succession of points, mostly countered by Meath, was all Dublin had to show before the match ended.