Out of the blue came Meath's worst fears. A dynamic and largely undaunted display by Dublin's young players and a slick, tactical performance by Tommy Lyons and his management team sent the Leinster champions tumbling into what will be their first acquaintance with the All-Ireland qualifiers, writes Seán Moran at Croke Park

Two goals in either half, both of which will make Meath - and current All Star - goalkeeper Cormac Sullivan shudder at the memory, were the key scores in a deserved win.

In the weeks since the teams had their greatly-contrasting first-round victories all the vital indicators looked to be on the champions' side. Then things started to slip. First came news of injury ruling out Meath's most feared forward Ollie Murphy.

Next, yesterday's Bank of Ireland Leinster football championship semi-final was only seconds old when John Cullinane, Meath's star turn at midfield against Westmeath, had to be stretchered off with a head injury.

Meath teams are practised in overcoming adversity but that trick has been partly based on exploiting the apprehensions of the opposition. Yesterday that didn't happen for two reasons. Firstly a young Dublin side got them on the back foot early and slowly created a sense of doubt. Secondly, when the match came around in the second half and Dublin showed signs of being mesmerised, Meath strangely lacked conviction.

Good chances that they would normally snap up to reverse the momentum of these sort of matches weren't converted. Evan Kelly, for instance, sliced a goal chance wide in the 50th minute and the critical, game-breaking score when it arrived did so in the shape of a Dublin goal.

The cockpit of the match was to be Dublin's full forwards and Meath's full backs. Before the throw-in John McNally switched to full forward and Ray Cosgrove to the left corner. Meath's changes were even more radical, switching Mark O'Reilly on to Alan Brogan, Cormac Murphy to full back and Darren Fay to the right corner.

Moving Fay away from the square has seldom been blessed with success, nor was it yesterday. Dublin played a fast-moving game, with the forwards constantly switching and inter-changing. Their superior pace constantly disrupted the Meath backs and the new, wider Croke Park pitch became an important factor for Dublin.

On the kick-outs the Dublin players converged on the centre and flew off like highly-charged particles as the ball came in. The plan was to move the attack around and isolate players on their markers where they could take them on one-on-one.

It worked to best effect on the right wing of the attack where the pace and football class of Colin Moran and Alan Brogan took Meath for six points from play in the first half. Brogan's ability on the ball and eye for a score were hugely impressive in the first half, although notably less so in the second.

Shane Ryan provided a physical fulcrum for the attack and worked hard throughout even if his use of the ball was at times error-prone, but Meath were forced to move Mark O'Reilly out to centre back.

After all the speculation about Ciarán Whelan realising his potential, the talented Dublin player stood his ground at midfield for most of the game before roving in the final quarter, mostly to assist in defence. It wasn't as flashy as he can be but it was very effective.

The early passages of play weren't terribly encouraging for Dublin. Despite the pressure exerted on Meath, scores weren't coming, although things weren't going much better for their opponents.

Ray Magee, who came into the right corner for Ollie Murphy, found it hard to get his eye in and had a few bad wides including one 17th-minute howler when he fisted the ball across goal having made a good inside break.

Without a fully fit Murphy, who did make a desperate appearance for the final 20 minutes, Meath's attack once more suffered. Trevor Giles was forced too deep for ball and never established control of the match while Graham Geraghty's menace is less dangerous when left to maraud on his own.

Yet credit should be given to Dublin's defence, which harried and covered remorselessly. Paddy Christie managed Geraghty well even in those moments when the Meath full forward drifted out to cover for Cullinane, who wasn't replaced for seven minutes.

Team captain Coman Goggins kept the pressure on Magee, never letting him settle, while Barry Cahill patrolled the field reading the breaks well and making some fine interceptions and tackles - although his clearances were sometimes a bit wild.

It was at wing back that Dublin found themselves under the cosh. Evan Kelly got the run on Peadar Andrews a couple of times. Nigel Nestor was Meath's best forward in the first half - even if he did undermine the overall effect of some strong running by letting rip a wild, sliced kick when presented with a good chance in injury-time at the end of the first half.

Stephen Cluxton in the Dublin goal had an excellent match. He punched clear a Giles ball in the 14th minute and pulled off a fine double save four minutes later, stopping Donal Curtis's point-blank shot and the follow-up.

The first goal in the 16th minute gave Dublin a sense of confidence after a long, barren period that had left the scores tied at one point each. McNally's long free kick looked to be drifting wide but dropped short. Neither Fay nor Sullivan reacted as quickly as Cosgrove who nipped in to palm the ball to the net.

Leading by five points at half-time, 1-7 to 0-5, Dublin pushed the lead to eight by the 43rd minute.

There they left it for over 20 minutes. Meath shaved five points off the deficit and a sense of unease began to spread. The team was creating chances but resolutely missing them.

In the 60th minute substitute Darren Magee was on the end of a painstaking move that placed him clear on goal only for his attempt to be deflected for a 45.

The margin was down to three, 1-10 to 0-10, when a point attempt by Brogan fell short. It looked a simple catch for Sullivan but, distracted by three Dublin forwards converging on him at speed, he didn't hold and Cosgrove punched the ball past him and followed it into the net. The match was over.

HOW THEY LINED OUT

DUBLIN: 1 S Cluxton; 2 B Cahill, 3 P Christie, 4 C Goggins (capt.); 5 P Casey, 6 J Magee, 7 P Andrews; 8 C Whelan, 9 D Homan; 10 C Moran, 11 S Ryan, 12 S Connell; 13 A Brogan, 15 J McNally, 14 R Cosgrove. Subs: 19 D Magee for Homan (55 mins); 21 D Farrell for McNally (59 mins), 17 D Henry for Andrews (60 mins); 20 J Sherlock for Moran (67 mins). Booked: C Whelan (20 mins), A Brogan (48 mins).

MEATH: 1 C Sullivan; 3 D Fay, 4 C Murphy, 2 M O'Reilly; 5 P Shankey, 6 H Traynor, 7 P Reynolds; 8 N Crawford, 9 J Cullinane; 10 E Kelly, 11 T Giles, 12 N Nestor; 18 R Magee, 14 G Geraghty, 15 D Curtis. Subs: 20 A Moyles for Cullinane (10 mins); 17 R Kealy for Curtis (32 mins); 13 O Murphy for Moyles (47 mins); 19 A Kenny for Kealy (62 mins). Booked: G Geraghty (13 mins).