Kerry - 0-11 Meath - 0-8: This was not one for the aficionados, so tiresomely slow and devoid of form was it, with Kerry winning without appearing to care.
Never more then a couple of points ahead until the end, Páidí Ó Sé's men were lifeless for long periods and short of a spark throughout the field. A training session would have revealed more.
And Meath lost without appearing to care either. They chased Kerry in first gear and finished with such a tame flourish that victory never seemed an option. Any supporter who left early wasn't lacking hope, but was rather bored to tears.
All those theories of a Kerry revenge and the debts unpaid from last summer died a rapid death. Around 7,000 showed up in Limerick with a notion that the two teams would rise above the ordinary, and they all left without having a single nerve tested.
There was some apprehension before the start - delayed 15 minutes because of extra-time in the curtain raiser. That was an epic struggle between St Jarlath's and Colaiste na Sceilge that ended 0-20 apiece and in hindsight they should have let the schoolboys play on till the death.
Anyhow, when Kerry and Meath came out for the second half barely a ripple of applause surfaced around the Gaelic Grounds. The sides were level at 0-5 each but there was clear evidence that the contest was already dead.
Kerry started in a lively fashion with an early score from Liam Hassett and then the second from a bursting run by Marc Ó Sé. Mike Frank Russell also got an early free, and then Kerry went 22 minutes without a score and probably half as much time without even a shot on goal.
Meath crawled into the game with a free from Trevor Giles and Graham Geraghty followed up with three fine points from play. But the latter might as well have stepped aside because he was barely seen again after that.
From then on Meath's attacking strategy was largely non-existent. Ollie Murphy did pop up for one point in the second half but he will know as well as anyone that his fitness is a long way off championship pace.
And he wasn't the only one carrying excess baggage. It's hard to understand sometimes how inter-county players can let themselves get so far out of shape so close to the championship, injuries notwithstanding.
As the clock ran out - mercifully - Kerry got their noses in front. Sean O'Sullivan was introduced for an anonymous Eoin Brosnan and ended up their brightest light, running with real speed to convert two of the best second half scores.
Noel Kennelly came to life again with another, and so with 15 minutes to play Kerry were 0-9 to 0-7 in front. A public announcement informed us that Laois had come through from the other semi-final, perhaps to remind the teams that there was something to play for, but to no avail.
Two more scores from a now bubbling Kennelly had Kerry in the clear - not that Meath seemed bothered. For Páidí Ó Sé then, was there anything to take from this? "Well it's another game for us anyway, and that's important," he said. "But I felt Meath were operating at half-mast, and we were just operating a little bit higher. But then we have our first championship match a lot closer."
It's four weeks actually, until they meet Limerick. And there were some positives, with Seamus Scanlon clearly a find at midfield and Seamus Moynihan looking the part again at full back.
For Meath manager Sean Boylan, the positives were even more difficult to isolate. "It was a step up in pace," he admitted, "and even though it's only six or seven months since an All-Ireland final you can find yourself getting away from that sort of pace. And for the first 15 minutes or so it was like we were afraid to play."
Kerry did lead Meath a bit of a merry dance early on, hardly a surprise after last year's championship encounter. "They got the early scores, and then we got into it a bit, and at least we know now what it takes to get back up there again. To get anywhere this year we will have to improve an awful lot on today," added Boylan.
He insisted though his side hadn't played without incentive: "Well, at this stage you don't want to be losing important matches. I'd have loved another game. We know now we're not the finished article, and this might get rid of the talk that we're automatically going to do something this year. It's not going to be like that."
KERRY: D O'Keeffe; E Galvin, S Moynihan, M McCarthy; J Sheehan, T Ó Sé, M Ó Sé (0-1); D Ó Sé, S Scanlon; D Quill, N Kennelly (0-4, 2 fs), E Brosnan; M F Russell (0-2, fs), L Hassett (0-1), A Mac Gearailt (0-1). Subs: S O'Sullivan (0-2) for Brosnan (40 mins), F Kelliher for T Ó Sé (46, inj), J Crowley for Hassett (52), I Twiss for Quill (55), B O'Shea for Galvin (58, inj).
MEATH: C O'Sullivan; M O'Reilly, C Murphy, P Shankey; P Reynolds, T Giles (0-3, fs), S Kenny; N Crawford, N Nestor; E Kelly, D Crimmins, G Geraghty (0-3); O Murphy (0-1), D Curtis, J Cullinane. Subs: R Magee for Curtis (50 mins), H Traynor for Kenny (52), R Kealy for Crimmins (55), N Kelly for Nestor, A Kenny (0-1) for Murphy (both 63).
Referee: M Hughes (Tyrone).
