THIS Leinster final followed a familiar script. All of the usual characteristics of these teams recent battles were there for everyone to see. But, for the first time in five years, when the curtain came down it was the men of Meath who were taking their bows after they had dispatched the All-Ireland champions to the wilderness with a strong display over the closing stages.

The tough, physical confrontation of the opening 20 minutes, along with the poor conditions, killed off any real chance of flowing and open football. But at half time it was Dublin who looked better able to raise their game and take a grip on the match.

From the early stages Meath controlled most of the possession, but their inaccuracy up front, particularly that of Brendan Reilly from play and Trevor Giles' frees, contributed much to their inability to turn the greater amount of the ball they enjoyed into a decent lead.

They were fortunate, though, that as the game progressed it became obvious that their opponents were suffering from a certain lethargy. There was not the sense of urgency about the All-Ireland champions that we had become accustomed to last season, while their fitness in some areas of the pitch seemed questionable.

In attack, Dublin had problems from the outset with Pat Gilroy unable to take command of the forward play in the way in which Dessie Farrell did for last year's victorious side. The Meath defence, meanwhile, gained the upper hand in just about every one of the individual contests, and Colm Coyle was particularly outstanding in reading the play and building his side's attacks.

What chances did come Dublin's way were in the form of frees, and while they were in the sort of positions that would not normally trouble Charlie Redmond, it quickly became apparent that he was having an off day. The result was a very low scoring first half.

The conditions caused both sides problems but, in that area, it was Meath who coped better. They handled the ball with more fluency than their counterparts and passed it out of defence much more confidently. Some of the Dublin backs repeatedly succumbed to the pressure exerted by the Meath forwards and gave possession away in dangerous areas. John O'Leary contributed to the difficulties with some erratic kicking of his own.

In midfield, Meath looked the more determined. They threw themselves into things with more commitment, and their reward was to pick up the lion's share of the breaking ball. Barry Callaghan, who switched with Tommy Dowd early on in the game, was especially influential in gathering these breaks and setting up intelligent play.

Meath were much the younger side overall, yet it was Dublin who suffered at times from the inexperience of a couple of their newcomers. Ciaran Whelan and, later, Damien O'Brien, worked hard, but failed to hold up the ball when that would have yielded their side the greatest advantage. The result was that, on more than one occasion, opportunities were squandered with harmless attempts to score.

Before the match much of the talk was of the contest between Paul Curran and Graham Geraghty, and here, at least for the first half, Dublin clearly came away on top. Curran looked very confident from early on and his success not only tended to take one of Meath's most dangerous players out of the game but enabled him to launch many of the Dublin attacks.

As the second half progressed, though, the Meath mentors did well to switch their man into a more central position, where he was marked by Mick Deegan; there he quickly showed that he had too much strength for his new rival.

Combined with the success of Trevor Giles' efforts to help out his half back line, as well as his improving success rate with frees, this helped to turn the match in Meath's favour through the second period.

Another factor was the performance of Jimmy McGuinness and John McDermott in midfield, whose contributions were vital in the final 10 minutes. Their passing may not have earned them the gratitude of their forward team-mates, but they won considerable amounts of possession and they made Brian Stynes and, in particular, Paul Bealin, struggle to make any impact whatsoever at a time when Dublin needed to pull something out of the bag.

Tommy Dowd and Brendan Reilly were another two to pick up important possession, but they will have better days for their side when it comes to scoring. Of the newcomers for Meath, Barry Callaghan was the most impressive. He may not be as athletic as some of those around him, but he certainly has a sharp footballing brain. He plays with his head up, shows a lot of vision and displayed a great deal of composure for such an inexperienced player.

His team, like Kerry a week ago, will be delighted to have finally overcome Dublin after five years in their shadow. The initial emotion in the camp will be one of relief simply to have beaten Dublin, but the younger players are bound to have picked up a great deal of confidence from yesterday's performance and everyone's attention will quickly turn to Tyrone.

The reality is, however, that they must put away a lot more of the chances created if they are to have a real chance against the Ulster champions. They need to perform in the way that they did in the closing stages of this match, when they confidently moved the ball into open spaces and began to use the obvious advantage they enjoyed over the sluggish Dublin backs.

For Dublin, there will be a few retirements and the attempt to harness the available talent will resume. Obviously Mickey Whelan will be disappointed with this result, but he will look to next year and hope to have moved closer to producing the sort of team that he really wants in time for the championship.

It will be interesting to see exactly what sort of balance he opts for and what changes he makes. One area where he has little option, however, is up front, where it will be a matter of urgency to bring through forwards who are better able to carve out good possession and turn it into scores.

There is still a certain instinct lacking in many of their players as they approach an opponent's goal. They are short of the ability to make the telling pass and to cause their opposition the greatest possible trouble that marks out the really great forwards in the game.

Of course, Dublin will be back next season and will doubtless have to be counted among the handful of counties that could win the All-Ireland. But until they have forwards who can set up and take scores from play, they will continue to find sustained success very elusive.