A GOOD opportunity for the football championship to emerge from the shadows cast by another brilliant hurling season ended in disaster. Two new teams Mayo and Meath, reached the All-Ireland final and even drew it for maximum effect before being enveloped by raging controversy.

The mass brawl and dismissals of Colm Coyle and Liam McHale overshadowed the tense and exciting exchanges which led to Meath's one-point win. Matters weren't helped by the aftermath of a too long-delayed GAC inquiry and an air of ill-humoured petulance that persisted between the teams.

Beneath this unattractive surface, there were good things about the championship. John Maughan's messianic deliverance of Mayo from the Third Division to an All-Ireland final tended to overshadow Sean Boylan's achievement but it too was startling.

Having picked up the pieces after Dublin's 1995 demolition job, Meath's manager put together a side containing five under-21s and a number of positional gambles.

The spine of the team featured exceptional performances. Brendan Reilly at full forward, John McDermott at midfield and newcomer Darren Fay at full back delivered consistently while Trevor Giles was a dominant personality in nearly every match he played, including UCD's memorable Sigerson Cup victory in March.

The team was lively and fast-moving with a capacity to punish severely inadequate defending and a resilience their predecessors were proud of.

The eight-point dispatch of Tyrone attracted most plaudits but by the stage the points were flowing, Tyrone were ravaged by debilitating injury and it can be - and is - argued that beating Dublin in the Leinster final was the watershed performance by Meath.

Dublin weren't by any means hectic but they had beaten Meath by 10 points a year previously and now faced a young side largely unfamiliar with the experience of beating them. That Boylan's team came through that critical challenge to their character was a great achievement.

Trailing by two points in the last 10 minutes of a low-scoring match, Meath surged with four, unanswered points and demonstrated nerve and panache on a swampy day made for the older more experienced team.

Ironically, the only provincial title not to change hands was in Ulster where Tyrone made it two-in-a-row for the first time in 20 years. This retention was most notable for the performance in eliminating League champions Derry who were made to look short on ideas and craft.

Mayo's emergence from Connacht prompted much wringing of hands about the loss of Galway seen as the west's most credible contenders. The laments stopped short three weeks later when Mayo became the first side from Connacht to beat a Munster team in 30 championships.

Kerry were the victims and the reverse had a desperate elect on the county. Under Paidi O Se and Seamus Mac Gearailt, Kerry got the better of Cork and earned their passage out of Munster for the first time since 1991.

The Kingdom's star had seemed in the ascendant for much of the year. Laune Rangers had launched a goal blitz to consign Carlow's Eire Og to another All-Ireland, club defeat. IS Killorglin won the All-Ireland Colleges title, the county reached the Vocational Schools' final, defeated a fancied Cork in the Munster minor final and were unbackable to retain their under-21 All-Ireland.

Yet all that promise shrivelled in the western blast unleashed by Mayo in August. Such was the agonising in Kerry that an under-21 title wasn't going to redeem it and, to make bad worse, the minors were surprised by a strong and accomplished Laois side in the All-Ireland final.

The year ended with Fermanagh - driven by some talented forwards - deservedly taking the B title north for the first time after a replayed final with Longford.