In a Meath dressing room that produces a star for every game, substitute Jody Devine was the man of the moment yesterday. He shot the lights out with four points in the second period of extra time to drag Meath off their death bed, and almost into the winners' enclosure. He was low-key about the achievement - but glowing with satisfaction nonetheless. He wasn't about to forget the team ethos however. "Ah it's a team effort. Any team that wins anything, it's all about a panel. It's just good to be on it. There's several other fellows in Meath who could be on it but they're not. I'm just happy to be on it, got a chance today and I took it."

Things were looking grim before his intervention. "If you had to say to us at half-time in extra time that we were going to get a draw out of it, we would have been happy. We had a couple of goal opportunities in the first period of extra time, if we had to take points it would have left us in a stronger position."

Devine's fourth point, in the 100th minute, looked like the winner. "I suppose you'd have to be a little bit disappointed we didn't hold on but most games like that, referees will play for a draw because of the way the two teams have contributed and it's another bonanza for the Leinster council . . . if they want to open up contracts with us, we can do business!

"But Kildare would have been very unlucky if they had lost by a point because they contributed to a great game. We were playing catch-up football again for most of it, just like the last day, we let them get five or six points ahead. We like killing ourselves, we like doing it the hard way but, we got there."

Graham Geraghty was not quite as content, having been sent to the line in the 48th minute by referee Pat O'Toole. "I don't know what he was looking at. The ball came into the square, the ball broke, Glen Ryan got it, I went over to tackle him, he went to the ground and the ref blew the whistle for a free out. I thought he was just booking me and next minute he put me off.

"I was shocked. After the last day, I think these referees are bringing two games into one really. The last day, as everyone seen, I pulled on a ball and the player (Kildare full back Ronan Quinn) hurt his thumb. But, I think, he's bringing it on from that match. Referees have a tendency to do that anyway."

He was resigned to missing the replay in two weeks' time: "It looks like that. It's disappointing." His team mates had dug deep in his absence. "They came back very well. I think we were a bit unfortunate there at the end, they got a fist to a ball, I thought there was somebody in the square. "But they did well when we did go ahead to come back but I'd love to know how much injury time he played as well. He played a good bit anyway but I won't complain, we got a draw and we live to fight another day. We're still there."

Meath manager Sean Boylan shared Geraghty's bafflement with the sending-off decision. "The referee put him off. I have no idea why he put him off and I can't comment on it until I see the referee's report." He will probably now have to plan without Geraghty for the replay. "So be it, that's the way it is. But . . . I just hope that people recognise the effort that every one of these lads put into these games and when you look at it, there may have been worse things happening on the field of play, and that's important to realise as well."