A piece of subtlety by man of the match Trevor Giles which yielded the only goal of the game left Dunshaughlin dumbfounded and catapulted Skryne to an 11th senior football title before a huge crowd at Navan yesterday.
Dunshaughlin seemed to have a reasonable chance when they led 0-5 to 0-4 early in the second half before Giles turned on the style in a roller-coaster spell.
The statistics tell the story: nine Skryne shots during the following 10 minutes turned the game on its head and shifted the new champions from a position of vulnerability to comfort with a 1-11 to 0-6 lead.
Dunshaughlin's worst fears were realised, and Giles, operating in front of John McDermott, was leading the onslaught. Afterwards, he was dismissive of the quality of his goal, but only players of Giles's calibre are capable of contriving such impeccable placement with the fist. He got on to the end of a deftly-placed Mick O'Dowd centre to send the ball well wide of Brian O'Rourke and into the net at the far post.
"The win was very important but I am more pleased for my father Eamonn than anything else. He has been coming under pressure within the club to come up with a result like this today," said Giles.
"From my own point of view it has been a great year for me after coming back from a cruciate injury last March."
Giles finished with a total of a goal and four points (he had one pointed free). Along with McDermott he was winning his third big domestic medal of the year, with Leinster and All-Ireland honours already secured.
Dunshaughlin selector T P Doolan put Giles's contribution into perspective: "He was the big difference between the teams - the goal and his long-range points and the way he is able to get the players around him move into top gear."
The Dunshaughlin response in the last quarter was poor, given what had gone before, although it seemed ominous that they had to depend on place kicking of wing back Denis Kealy to keep them in touch.
Kealy, one of six brothers in the Dunshaughlin side, was asked to do too much in this area. He pointed six of his side's frees. Tiernan O'Rourke also pointed a free late in the game. Graham Dowd was the only Dunshaughlin player to score from play.
Throughout the first half, though, Dunshaughlin, with the wind in their backs, put some mazy moves together and troubled the Skryne defence. Despite the excellent midfield play of Dermot Kealy and the taking up of good positions by Richie Kealy, David Moroney and Tiernan O'Rourke, the Dunshaughlin front-runners were wasteful and the side had six first-half wides.
David Crimmins had their best chance of a goal after slipping two defenders and moving to within four yards of goal, but his strong shot was parried away by Philip Kinsella.
Apart from Giles in attack, Brian Smyth showed some excellent touches for Skryne.
Before the game, another Brian Smyth, captain of Meath's first All-Ireland winners in 1949, and Graham Geraghty, this year's winning captain, were presented to the crowd of over 8,000.
However, what they were about to witness was never in contention to be labelled the best Meath final ever played.
SKRYNE: P Kinsella; G Geraghty, K Pentony, L Pentony; M Mulvaney, R Mulvaney, D Donnelly; P O'Donnell, J McDermott (0-1); B Smyth (0-4), M O'Dowd (0-1), T Giles (1-4, one free); C Murphy (0-1), K O'Connell, J Gibbons (0-1). Subs: S Lynch for L Pentony (half-time); G Johnson for Murphy (55 mins); A Carty for O'Donnell (56 mins).
DUNSHAUGHLIN: B O'Rourke; F Gogan, K McTigue, C Byrne; Denis Kealy (0-6, frees), A Kealy, S Kelly; Dermot Kealy, N Kelly; D Moroney, R Kealy, S Claire; D Crimmins, T O'Rourke (0-1, free), G Dowd (0-1). Subs: B Kealy for N Kelly (37 mins); R Yore for S Kelly (57 mins); T Dowd for G Dowd.
Refreee: P Fox (Wolfe Tones).
