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lin, in the Leinster final, and Tyrone).

For the perceptive among their number, the reflection would have covered the entire season's victories of varying quality. In matches where the team gets an obvious edge, the result was an effervescent dispatch of the opposition - as with Carlow, Laois and Tyrone. In matches of a more dogged nature, the team struggles for scores - Dublin and Mayo.

The general point about Sean Boylan's record in replays with Meath is slightly misleading. Whereas the current team has all the indomitable spirit of the old All Ireland winning team, they have neither the absolute self confidence nor the experience of their predecessors who won two national finals and a four match epic after replays.

Mayo need not dispute the charge that they threw away the drawn match. They did. The point, however, remains that throwing away a match in a draw doesn't preclude a team from winning the replay.

For the second time this year, Mayo outplayed Meath (the National Football League quarter final in March was the other) and that is surely the lesson that John Maughan has been emphasising to his team.

He has also stressed that their momentum from Division Three to the verge of an All Ireland title - in the space of a few months - is dramatic and accelerating. They have also been through the grind of All Ireland final day without winning and that is an experience that normally costs more than a fortnight's wait before the lessons can be applied.

Improvements are possible on both sides. Meath strongly feel that their forwards were inordinately out of sorts two weeks ago and that they have more room for improvement. There will also be a certainty that Colm Brady's addition as a third midfielder will dramatically balance the share out in the middle and that with greater possession and improvement in the forwards, they can win.

How far such improvements go will probably decide the match. The opinion here is that Tommy Dowd and Reilly will benefit from a switch that will probably take place. Graham Geraghty was tightly marked by Pat Holmes last time out but slipped away a couple of times when his pace looked lethal. If he can develop more patience, Geraghty is capable of making a bigger impression.

Nonetheless, it would be misleading for anyone to believe that Mayo don't have reasonable room for improvement themselves. Primarily, the restoration of Nallen to centre back will solidify the defence. There are also good grounds for believing that Connelly, diligent and quick, has a better chance of effectively tracking Giles,

Colm Brady's introduction as a third midfielder may help Meath around the middle but it thins the attack and with McManamon the most logical marker for Brady, the excellent Kenneth Mortimer will be free to patrol the defence. Consequently, even if Meath do up their game in attack, Mayo can be expected to be more structured at the back.

Mayo don't need to win as much ball if they use it better. Specifically they need to bring Casey into the match at full forward - assuming he has recovered from being comprehensively mauled by Darren Fay. This can be achieved by putting the Meath, half backs under more pressure. One way of doing this is for Liam McHale to run at them a bit more and open up the defence a little more than he did in the drawn match.

This will give the full forward line more of a chance and with them more fully engaged, Meath's full back line can hardly exercise the sort of influence possible when Mayo were raining down high ball on a bunched up inside line. Anthony Finnerty's selection will be expected to tie down Martin O'Connell and undermine his ability to bail out the rest of the defence.

The final question depends on your view of the drawn match. Did Mayo leave it all behind? Surely Meath will register the necessary improvement? Maybe the truth is simpler. The view here is that Mayo are currently the better team and that having nearly won two weeks ago, they will finish the job tomorrow.