NOT exactly pretty but these rites of passage rarely are. Yesterday at a humid but soggy Croke Park, Meath's youthful challenge proved too much for a disjointed and dispirited-looking Dublin in the Bank of Ireland Leinster football final. It was exciting all the way to a disallowed goal in injury-time, but the quality of the football was fairly wretched.
To be fair to the players, the heavy rain contributed a great deal to the ruining of the match. Handling errors, weirdly misplaced passes and shockingly bad finishing afflicted both teams as the ball skidded around the soaked pitch.
Nonetheless, whereas it made some sense beforehand to forecast additional problems for Meath's younger, lighter footballers, the truth is that such daunting conditions are a more searching test of mentality than of physique and in that regard, the All-Ireland champions were sadly exposed despite having the match on a plate going into the last 10 minutes.
A spirited finale saw Meath transform a two-point deficit into a two-point win. Three well-taken points from play and a free from Trevor Giles turned the match around but any other outcome would have been a distortion of the afternoon's exchanges.
As with Kerry a week ago, this was Meath's first provincial title in five years and it was a victory achieved in adverse conditions against brawnier and more experienced title-holders. There was the further sat faction of overturning the 10-point demolition at the hands of Dublin in last year's Leinster final.
There were also heartening displays from some newcomers. Mark O'Reilly, only 19, played a gutsy match on Charlie Redmond and beside him, Darren Fay was excellent in containing Dublin's potentially most dangerous forward, Jason Sherlock. He shadowed the Dublin full forward everywhere and contested the ball effectively without having to resort to wholesale fouling.
Up front, Barry Callaghan showed great maturity when taking on the centre forward role when captain Tommy Dowd was switched to the corner after receiving a bad knock.
It wasn't all good news for the winners and there will be plenty for Sean Boylan to work on before his neophytes take on Tyrone in the second All-Ireland semifinal in three weeks time. Inaccuracies in a number of facets of play will have to straightened out, as will some bad decision making going forward but the likelihood is that things will improve.
Firstly, Meath were getting better as the match progressed, secondly improved weather will enhance their lively game and with the confidence of a breakthrough title under their belt, the nervier aspects of yesterday's display should settle.
The winners dominated play during the opening quarter but failed to raise the flags whereas Dublin scored through Redmond with virtually their first attack. This proved to be illusory for Dublin and Redmond because, in addition to O'Reilly playing him well, the veteran corner forward embarked on an horrific afternoon with the placed ball. One free and one 45 was his total while four very kickable - and that not even allowing for his high standards - frees were kicked wide.
Fortunately for the champions, Meath were racking up wides incontinently themselves. Brendan Reilly, from play, and Trevor Giles, from the placed ball, accounted for half of Meath's staggering total of 16 wides but crucially, Giles regained his composure and mastered the pressures which so undermined his first couple of Leinster finals.
In general, Meath were well able for the physical exchanges. Despite their youth, most of the new and newer players were quite happy to mix it in an 18th-minute brawl which referee Brian White let fizzle out and which seemed to draw most of the heat from the physical exchanges, although they did remain tense.
Dublin started the afternoon by giving a senior championship debut to Ciaran Whelan after Niall Guiden failed to come through a fitness test on Saturday. The newcomer played intermittently well and kicked two points in the first half.
In the 45th and 46th minutes, Giles cancelled out Dublin's two-point lead, 0-5 to 0-3, with a free and a point from play - both brought about by defensive errors. Giles was beginning to have an impact. Dropping back to bale out his half backs, his accuracy also improved dramatically and his four points made him top scorer on the day.
It was a gratifying afternoon for the Skryne wing forward whose physical development has progressed to the stage where he was able almost casually to trade shoulders with Eamonn Heery without breaking stride. He overcame an ominous early nervousness to play a most influential role in the closing 10 minutes.
This was the phase that decided the match. A good pressure conversion of a 45 by Redmond and a point by Heery gave Dublin a 0-8 to 0-6 lead by the 59th minute. They should have driven on from there but when the hammer came down, it was Meath who responded.
