There were two big factors that helped Galway win this game. Firstly, they hadn't been getting the respect from the general public that they deserved coming into this game, and secondly, there was a complacency about Meath's build-up that was only natural after their massive victory over Kerry in the semi-final.

On top of that, I felt Meath peaked in that game against Kerry and were never going to replicate that sort of performance in the final.

Most of their supporters expected a repeat of that performance and that kind of loose talk does get through to players no matter how much they try to guard against it. So I felt that Meath had the wrong attitude, and additionally, they didn't expect the sort of performance that Galway were about to produce.

The game started out with great commitment by both sides although it was tense and a little scrappy. From an early stage though, Meath were living on scraps and Galway, especially in the middle of the field, were doing very well through some unsung heroes like Joe Bergin.

The leaders on the Meath team like Trevor Giles and John McDermott were simply not able to get into the game. They weren't making any impact and weren't providing the leadership and drive that the inside players needed.

Having said that, I was afraid Galway were kicking the game away. In the first half, they created 36 chances and scored six times. Meath created just 17 chances and scored six times also. That indicates the dominance that Galway enjoyed but also the problems that they had converting the scores.

Padraig Joyce was especially guilty of some bad wides in the first half, and did fall into some hasty kicking. Then he came out in the second half and gave an inspirational display. A great balance from frees and from play, he was in command of his game as much as ever.

However, he was aided by every single player on the Galway team, from goalkeeper out. It would be churlish not to give Joyce a man-of-the-match performance but if I were to select a player a notch above the rest I would give it to Declan Meehan.

I said before this game that the Galway half-back line was going to be critical, and the key to their entire performance. Meehan inspired them, although they were all outstanding. Tomβs Mannion was scalded against Roscommon earlier in the summer but he held Giles scoreless here and totally nullified the influence he needed to make to bring about a Meath victory.

The injury to Ollie Murphy was, of course, unfortunate. It was clearly a break in the hand when he had to come off, but overall they were lacking leadership from all of their players. There was a general malaise in the team and a lot of that would have to go down to a defective attitude coming into the game.

John O'Mahony deserves full credit for getting the best out of this team. After the loss to Roscommon, their aspirations were in ashes but the system was there and he performed the necessary surgery on the team. He brought in a new goalkeeper, changed the corner backs, and also brought Tomβs Mannion out to centre back.

They did ride their luck in a couple of the qualifying games but you could sense as well that the graph was improving. They were correctly accused of being inconsistent in some of their performances, but what encouraged me all along was the fact that any good spells they had in those games were awesome.

I felt that if they got it right for close on a 70-minute period, they were going to be very difficult to beat. It's worth remembering as well that they were here a year ago and lost in a replay. So the feeling of loss was recent and the motivation was there to avoid it this time.

O'Mahony certainly got it right at every level. As well as that, it was perfectly set up in the way Meath disposed of Kerry and became such strong favourites. It's hard to know what O'Mahony's future will be now. He's been managing more or less non-stop since 1988, when he went into club management in Roscommon. It's his decision now and he may feel like a breather. There's not an awful lot more he can do with this team in that it is at its peak, and they can either stay there or go down.

Other aspects of this Galway performance that impressed was the way they dictated the game more or less from the start. In terms of tactics and territory, they got it all right. Tommy Joyce came out the field to good effect and the central eight players were winning most of the breaking ball, which is very unusual for Meath. But they were simply not as competitive in the middle of the field as they had been all summer.

Meath simply had a bad day at the office but it's not the sort of day when people will be saying that Seβn Boylan should walk away from it. He was typically gracious in defeat and I think the players will recognise that they were outplayed. They'll have a rest into next year but if they are to come back again it will take another huge effort, and whether the likes of McDermott and Giles and Geraghty still have the hunger for that remains to be seen.

In an interview with Ian O'Riordan