It was in the words of one experienced observer, "the rebirth of Gaelic football". Meath, the inexorable All-Ireland champions, weren't merely dethroned in Saturday evening's Bank of Ireland Leinster final, they were driven from the land by the most startling force to have emerged in football in modern times. Not alone had Offaly been 15 years without championship success, they had campaigned in Division Four of the National League and slipped through on what was demonstrably the weaker side of the draw in Leinster.

These were weaker credentials than any of this decade's many breakthrough teams brought into combat. It was therefore all the more remarkable that the weekend's result was achieved with such quality. This was no scrappy battle of attrition decided by late, inexplicable intervention; it was the best integrated forward display seen since Down were in their All-Ireland winning pomp.

The moves orchestrated by Offaly were sweeping and intelligent: crossfield passes, the ball moved at pace and forwards playing with confidence and drive. And they had an uninhibited belief in their own finishing powers.

At times it was breathtaking and none the less so for the suspicion that Meath's weakened selection was exaggerating the ease with which the game-plan was taking effect. More precise evaluation of the miracle wrought by Offaly's manager Tommy Lyons awaits the All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo, but it was hard to imagine any defence coping comfortably with the explosive patterns woven on Saturday.

John Maughan was glimpsed outside Croke Park after the match and he looked pensive, as befitted a man who has been presumably administering Meath drugs to his Mayo players for the past 11 months, only to find them now under attack from a different quarter and also as befitted a man who has the recent long-term loss of his accomplished full back Kevin Cahill.

Roy Malone, Offaly's full forward, was a revelation. Throughout the summer, his reputation has been steadily rising in between his two more experienced corner colleagues, Vinny Claffey and Peter Brady. On Saturday, Malone had two well-taken goals, the second an explosive 50-metre dash culminating in the score which effectively finished Meath.

The All-Ireland champions, already short three suspended players, lost Martin O'Connell to a back injury before the throw-in. This meant that their entire full-back line - the top performing unit in last year's success - was ruled out. In their absence, Malone, Claffey, outstanding in the right corner, and Brady accumulated 3-8.

Strangely Colm Coyle, Meath's most experienced defender was kept in the forwards until being substituted in the second half. The defence struggled throughout the match with none of the six having the better of their opponent.

When singing Offaly's praises, the influence of Lyons is always pivotal. Not alone has he brought organisation, belief and a most newsworthy diet to Offaly football, but he has added all sorts of little touches which contribute to the overall package.

For a long time, he has spoken about the importance of discipline in the team. Last week he said that his players would "walk away into the stands" rather than get involved with the opposition and that iron-willed restraint poses a problem for opponents. A team which is difficult to provoke disarms one of the weapons at the opposition's disposal.

During this year's championship, Offaly have had a tendency to score in bursts and lie fallow and this looked like causing them problems on Saturday. A 10-point lead established by the 21st minute had been whittled down to three by the 40th - without the winners scoring in the interim.

Amongst the team's most striking assets, however, was a calmness in the face of fire. Meath have an almost genetic reputation for never being beaten, but as soon as the champions set heads nodding around the Croke Park attendance of 46,097, Offaly hit back.

At no time was this more impressive than in the closing minutes. Jimmy McGuinness's goal cut Meath's deficit to four points with four minutes remaining. Hardly a team in the country could rest easy in such a situation, but Offaly pulled away and the four points that sailed over the bar were at the Railway End and doubled rather than eliminated the lead.

Meath had started the match positively, but the only reward for a monopoly of possession was four wides while Offaly went two points up by showing a telling economy in attack. The lead was seven, 1-4 to nil, after 10 minutes, Malone scoring his first goal after a slick move featuring two stars of the afternoon, Sean Grennan, whose robust presence staked Offaly's claim both at centrefield and on the 40, and the tireless Colm Quinn, whose graft and running were complemented by four points from play.

A further feature of Offaly's big score was that only two of the points came from frees: 3-15 from play will hardly be equalled in a provincial football final for quite a while.

The one shadow on the afternoon and one which threatened their chances of success was that Larry Carroll was having difficulties on Brendan Reilly. This wasn't the first time that Carroll has been troubled during the summer and he was in fairness game enough, fighting for ball and occasionally winning it right up until the time for him to be switched was announced by a run of scores from Reilly and a booking for persistent fouling.

Elswehere, though, the Offaly defence played well. Cathal Daly added another good performance to his impressive summer's portfolio, but he didn't have things all his own way as Ollie Murphy, star of the semi-final defeat of Kildare, had 0-3 from play which should have been 12 as his 61st-minute point was a goal opportunity.

Goal opportunities also presented themselves to Meath before half-time, but between the 30th and 33rd minutes, a sideline ball from Reilly bounced off the post to safety, Padraig Kelly made a marvellous save, also from Reilly, and finally McGuinness had a shot which, after sliding past the stranded Kelly, went wide off the post.

Reilly was by far Meath's best performer and although he needed assistance in the second half, what in fact happened was that Barry Malone, brother of Roy, moved in from the corner and played Meath's full forward well. Trevor Giles came into the match, but still doesn't look clear of injury and substitute Jody Devine was unable to avail of a folorn invitation to repeat the heroics of the second Kildare match.

In the Offaly half-backs, Finbarr Cullen played a captain's role, but it was John Kenny who caught the eye with a stamina-eating performance which encapsulated the team's game-plan - short and precise at the back before unleashing the forwards.

It was the game-plan that carried the day. Lyons had said that after the drubbing given to Fermanagh in the league, he hadn't expected to see the gameplan succeeding again to such an extent. The ebullience and exhilaration of Saturday's performance will surely have made him think again and Meath, defiant but well beaten, will hardly argue.