The sending-off of Nigel Nestor definitely had a bearing on this result. At the time Galway were up 0-9 to 0-7, but in the four minutes after that Padraig Joyce added three points, one with his left foot and two with his right.

So from having to claw back a two-point deficit, Meath were all of a sudden looking at a five-point gap with a man less. Not even Meath's renowned resistance and resolve was able to change that on the day.

After that, though, there was the missed penalty that also proved crucial. John McDermott did take a dive, even though he was pressurised by Kevin Walsh, but there's no doubt that if Trevor Giles had converted from the spot then Meath would have got a huge lift.

It would have brought them back to two points going into the final 10 minutes, but in many ways the shot by Giles just typified his day.

Nothing at all would go right for him and he just didn't seem to have the hunger for battle that he has shown so often in the past.

He has won his two All-Ireland's and the culmination of long seasons and injuries may be taking their toll, but either way it wasn't the Trevor Giles of old out there. It was certainly a total contrast to the day he scored a penalty against Mayo back in 1996.

It wasn't a well-struck penalty yesterday. Normally, he would hit to the far side of the goal and it was a surprise for him to hit it the way he did. And I'm sure he'll think long and hard about this one.

There was also a period midway through the second half when Meath were having clear problems varying their attack.

They were pumping long ball into the full-forward line, but it was a full-forward line devoid of Ollie Murphy and also where there was an extra Galway defender because of Nestor having been sent off.

So the creativity that had been a hallmark of Meath's play through the summer had deserted them. And from then on it was quite clear Galway were going to win.

Towards the end, then, Galway turned it into an exhibition and did to Meath what Meath had done to Kerry, only not quite as drastically.

Certainly, the tables were turned quite emphatically on Meath.

In an interview with Ian O'Riordan