While the class of the Meath team won out in this encounter, it was far from a great game by any standards and didn't quite live up to some of the expectations of Leinster finals between these two sides.

The only difference on the day was that Meath were able to get the majority of their scores from play. Dublin were quite the opposite in getting no more than three points from play and otherwise depending on frees. That at least tells one part of the story.

Overall there was a lot of mishandling and a lot of ball given away. I believe one of the reasons for this was the grass in Croke Park being cut so tight and that situation makes it especially difficult for free-taking. We saw that when Trevor Giles missed his first two frees. Still, it was the show of class in the second half from Giles, Ollie Murphy and the forward line in general that made the difference for Meath.

In many ways Dublin dominated the game in the opening period, especially in terms of possession. Yet Meath still ended up ahead by the end of the half and that shows that Dublin were unable to make their possession count or at least didn't seem to have the scoring forwards to do so. Jason Sherlock had an early miss but it was clear that they didn't have the precision that Meath were showing.

Graham Geraghty and Murphy got two points in a period around the 13-minute mark when Meath were actually playing quite poorly. That must have been disheartening for Dublin.

The loss of Dessie Farrell probably upset them a bit because the momentum seemed to go out of the forwards after that. Enda McManus was a similar loss to Meath, so it's hard to know if the difference would have been significant. Dublin were depending too much on Jim Gavin and Declan Darcy after that.

Overall I felt the first half was poor for Meath, even if they managed to get the scores. Giles, however, certainly began to show his class in the second half and demonstrate what a quality player he is. Coming back after a knee injury takes time. But he picked it up by spraying some beautiful ball around in the second half. By then Meath had started playing to their strengths.

Murphy's 1-5 total from play shows how important he was and certainly he had Peadar Andrews under pressure from the start. There was always the danger of bringing Andrews into the panel for his first start and it's easy to say from the stands that he should have been taken off Murphy a lot earlier. Okay, he was on Murphy too long but it wasn't until the second half that Murphy did the real damage.

Meath's teamwork was also important, especially with the likes of Nigel Nestor and Evan Kelly playing such unselfish games. Nestor provided Murphy with at least one point and made sure the ball was going to the players that were on song.

Apart from the first free from Dublin in the second half, it went all Meath's way and opened up totally for them. It reminded me of the Meath football of old with the long direct passes into the full forward line, and especially Murphy. There are a lot of positives for Meath to take out of this because although Darren Fay held Ian Robertson, he's had better games and McDermott is bound to have a bigger influence next time. If Tommy Dowd makes any sort of return, the full forward line would look fairly unstoppable.

The indications for Dublin are that they have a bit to go yet in the development of this team. Nothing came off the few balls that Robertson managed to win but he demanded a lot of attention and Fay gave him that without fouling. The supply, however, was limited because Brian Stynes hadn't anything near the influence of the game that we saw in the Laois replay.

There was period when Ciaran Whelan threatened to make a few runs and overall was the better midfielder but overall they were under pressure in that area and not picking up much from the backs either who were also under pressure, despite Jonathon McGee performing well enough. It will certainly be a hard game when Meath meet Armagh but I feel that Dublin were poor in this game and against a better team Meath won't be able to give away as much ball or be lacking in concentration like they did for periods here.

A final observation about this game concerns the crowd not running on to the field afterwards. It made for a certain lack of atmosphere at the end and it was anti-climactic in some senses. I understand the regulations but it seems to take a whole part away from the occasion. We saw the contrast of the game in Clones. If someone like Mayo win the All-Ireland then I couldn't see the UN holding them off the field.

In an interview with Ian O'Riordan