All-Ireland SFC Semi-final Cork v Meath: Keith Dugganon the hitherto unheralded forward who combines a talent for scoring with an appetite for hard work.

Nobody saw Meath coming and the name of Stephen Bray was on few lips as a potential footballer of the year. The economy of touch and sharp accuracy of the Navan man has been one of the highlights of a championship season that has emphasised muscle rather than class.

Bray has been the best scoring forward in the country and trying to neutralise him will have preyed heavily on the mind of Cork coach Billy Morgan for the past fortnight.

But if the dramatic ascendance of Bray's star has been demonstrative of anything, it is of just how difficult it can be to make an impression at intercounty level, even for those players with a lavish repertoire of skills.

Bray is 26 years of age and he made his league debut in 2000. The old vaudevillian Tommy Cooper once cracked that he became an overnight success after 30 years. In football terms, Bray has had to wait almost as long for his break. Plenty of promising young players would have found the distractions of life too great to hang around waiting for something big to happen.

"It has to be remembered, though, that Meath haven't been hanging around very long in the championship either for the past few years," points out Mick Downes, who coaches Bray at Navan O'Mahony's.

"He didn't get the opportunity to showcase himself and the previous championships were very stop-start. Meath have probably played more games this year than in the previous three years combined. And the benefits of that have been clear and Stephen is thriving."

Bray has a compelling figure on the field, quiet and seemingly haughty and incredibly self-possessed and purposeful in everything he has done. He has been playing the game as though intent on proving somebody wrong, nailing points in the cauldron against Dublin and blasting that wonderful goal against Galway and then hurrying back to his position without changing expression, eager to get on with things.

"It was no surprise," says selector Dudley Farrell about Bray's blossoming. "We always knew it was in him. But there were a few weaknesses there. He could take the wrong option sometimes and maybe his work-rate could have been up. But he has addressed those one hundred fold. He is not just a scorer. His desire is to get out and win ball and his distribution has been fabulous. And of course, he kicks with both feet. Stephen kind of turns as he receives the ball. He is so sharp. Again, he couldn't do that with the injuries last year."

SMALL, PERSISTENT INJURIEShave dogged Bray for the past two seasons, hampering his mobility and interrupting his training schedule. He often turned in impressive performances for Meath but groin or hamstring strains prevented that consistency. He had to wait until 2004 for his championship debut against Dublin and since then he had established the reputation of being a good-quality intercounty forward.

"Within Navan and around Meath, I think it was known that there was more to his game," says Downes. "Stephen would be a model footballer in that all his energies would be directed towards football. He was always open to advice as to how to better himself and I think he was finding it frustrating trying to deal with the various injuries. His natural game was inhibited and that affected his form."

At the beginning of the year, the Meath management took the panel for extensive testing in DCU. The causes of the persistent strains that had been afflicting Bray were identified and he worked on alleviating them during the league.

"It wasn't just a case of going into the gym and pumping iron," says Farrell. "He really dedicated himself to getting the problems cleared up and you could see the benefit of it as the season wore on. Then you get a couple of games under your belt and the confidence kicks in. That has happened with them all."

DOWNES HAS WATCHEDall the Meath championship games and was particularly taken with Bray's form against Dublin. Bray's toughest assignment was against Tyrone in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Early on, he scored three points while being marked by Ryan McMenamin. They were astonishing points because McMenamin did little wrong defensively, staying goalside of his man, not diving in and reading the feints that Bray throws before stepping into his kick. It was as though Bray just needed a sliver of space to deliver the perfect arcing shot.

That was the first serious disruption to the Tyrone game plan and Mickey Harte decided to re-organise his defence, taking Conor Gormley out of the pivotal number six role to try his luck on Bray. Pound for pound, the Carrickmore man might be the best defender in the game. He glued himself to Bray by every means possible and what ensued was a fascinating and old-fashioned struggle. Bray got no more scores but rather than drift out of the game, he began to look for other ways to exert an influence, making decoy runs, showing for the ball, dragging Gormley away from help-defence situations. And more importantly, he refused to get rattled.

"HE WORKED AND TACKLED,"agrees Farrell. "Going back to Graham's goal, it was Stephen who broke the ball to Brian (Farrell) and he fisted it on for Geraghty. A lot of people wouldn't see that hard work. But it is there. And I think he has a great understanding now with Shane (O'Rourke) and Brian. He came off about seven minutes from the end. He was tired and he had a bit of a shoulder injury. But he worked his socks off for us."

Other counties can but watch in wonder at the stealth and self-assurance with which Meath have set about reappearing on the great championship days. This All-Ireland semi-final, with all the connotations of the grim battles between Cork and Meath in the 1980s, is a huge game for the Royal County. These are different teams and in a sense it is a different game: faster, lighter, with less time and room to shine. Farrell speculates that Cork might task Anthony Lynch with marking Bray.

"That would be a compliment to the way he has played. There has been a lot of praise for Stephen this year and rightly so. Because he has been up there with the best of them. And whatever accolades he picks up along the way, it won't faze him one bit because he is about as down to earth as they come and he will keep working at his game. A season like this probably should have happened for him before now but he kept on working at it."

Not that he will be content with what has passed. Bray is the third highest scorer in the championship, hitting 2-19 over the seven matches Meath have played. All of those scores have been from play. It will be some turn by the Cork defence if that total does not rise on Sunday afternoon.

"Stephen looks like he believes he can score or that he will set up a score whenever he touches the ball," says Senan Downes. "It is the ideal way for a forward to be."