IS IT any wonder that football is so addictive? This game encapsulated all that is good, especially in the area of sportsmanship. Indeed, I'd suggest that we haven't witnessed a match of such quality for a long, long time and that the real winner was actually football - yet, at the end of the day, Meath merely move on to the next stage in defence of their crown, and Dublin are again left to act as spectators.

Football is strange and frustrating, at times. Dublin will wonder why they failed to put Meath away, especially with so much possession. However, the attack proved to be Dublin's weakness. Whereas Meath's forwards were able to feed on more limited possession, it is a sad reflection on Dublin's attacking unit that a greater threat to Meath actually stemmed from the side's half back line.

The bottom line in any game is scoring. It is what wins games. And, in that regard, Meath definitely had the edge - the statistic that all six Meath forwards had scored from play by the 27th minute tells its own tale, I suppose. In contrast, Jim Gavin was the only Dublin forward to score from play (until Peter Ward's introduction as a substitute). Yet, in most other areas of the field, Dublin were unquestionably the better side on the day.

Brian Stynes was superb at midfield, while the half backline of Paul Curran, Keith Barr (he played a true captain's part) and Eamonn Heery reverted back to their reckless exuberance of the early 90s and had superb games. However, it seemed they were only spurred into life late in the first half when it appeared as if Meath were going to run away with the game and, at that stage, decided to throw caution to the wind.

Meath's forwards kicked some really tremendous points, from long range and difficult angles, in that firsthalf. Such scores have to inspire confidence, although it must be said that a number of scores were virtually handed to Meath by poor handling and bad options in the Dublin defence in that opening 25 minutes of play. And they were severely punished for such elementary mistakes.

Thereafter, Dublin seemed to tighten up considerably and certainly the introduction of Mick Deegan had a huge impact on the game. It made you wonder why he hadn't started.

Deegan's introduction coincided with the triumvirate of Curran Barr Heery's greater influence - but, even then, the Dublin forward unit never really functioned.

The Meath defenders, especially Darren Fay who is a great full back, closed them down and the Dublin inside line struggled right through the game to find any degree of space. Mick Galvin was virtually anonymous for too much of the game, while Redmond didn't really work out as a targetman. Even Jason Sherlock, whenever he got the ball, ended up playing it back out the field.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the Dublin forwards reneged on their responsibilities because they weren't willing to shoot for points!

Meath, on far more limited possession, were cleverer and used the space created to better effect and I was particularly impressed with the contributions of Tommy Dowd, Brendan Reilly and Ollie Murphy. Graham Geraghty was a big disappointment until the final few minutes when he made a couple of important, ball carrying runs at the Dublin defence.

The contribution of the Meath defence shouldn't be underestimated. They were under pressure for a long portion of the match, yet kept on closing down the Dublin forwards and working them into cul de sacs. But Dublin's old failing of being unable to capitalise on a greater amount of possession came back to haunt them. Dublin actually controlled the game for almost the entire secondhalf, yet still couldn't catch Meath.

Apart from Fay, Mark O'Reilly again did a lot of work in the Meath defence, but it was the performance of Nigel Nestor, in his first big match, which really impressed me. It is truly remarkable how Meath can grab someone virtually from nowhere and blood him in a game of such intensity and importance. He was outstanding and is definitely a big find.

Having said that, Dublin's younger players did quite well, especially Ian Robertson, who settled down well after an early mistake which led to a Meath score.

I confess I was quite surprised when Paul Bealin was handed the penaltytaking duties at the end, because he doesn't impress me as the cleanest striker of a ball on the Dublin team. At least he had the courage to stand up and take the kick but someone like Charlie or Jason or, perhaps, Mick Deegan, given the way he was playing and the fact that he plays soccer over the winter up North, would have appeared a more obvious choice.

Not only will Meath take great encouragement from the game, they will also benefit from such an intense physical workout. They survived, I suppose, because of Dublin's inaccuracies and not because of their own doing.

Finally, I don't think that Mickey Whelan should make any early decision on whether or not he continues as manager. After this, I think he should stay on. This was a vastly improved Dublin, performance and there was no questioning the spirit displayed by the team in their fightback. The players gave a tremendous response when trailing by nine points and it was very much in their own hands at the end.