FOR a critical 10 minutes, we were taken to the frontiers of a new era in football, but as the whole country gulped at the enormity of it all, so did Mayo and the chance of Connacht's first All Ireland title in a generation ebbed away or at least, was put on hold.

The chance remains with the replay of the Bank of Ireland All Ireland football final but - if they win it - Mayo will hardly be in as strong a position going into the last quarter as they were at Croke Park yesterday. Leading by five points, they were well poised to win a match that they led for 59 of the 70 minutes and during which they were never headed.

Meath were outplayed in several aspects of the game, but they broke even in the one that counts, scores registered at full time. The last minute score that levelled the final was as scrappy as most of the afternoon's football, but dramatically reflective of the match's intensity.

Launched from a little over 50 metres, Colm Coyle's speculative punt bounced once and cleared the Mayo bar in a manner strongly evocative of PJ Gillie's equaliser in the first of the four match Dublin Meath saga in 1991.

The Connacht champions will be nonetheless anguished to have come so close to lifting the crown and John Maughan will face the greatest challenge to his managerial powers in trying to raise the team's spirits for the replay.

It was a loose, unstructured game with players from both sides bunching together with team mates while their markers drifted off elsewhere. If their scoring exploits weren't sufficient, Mayo's forwards did chase and harrass the Meath defence and forced quite a few inaccurate clearances.

The steep nature of the let off shouldn't, however, blind Meath to the grave problems exposed yesterday. They won a distinctly second best amount of possession and struggled to make an impact on the Mayo defence with what ball they got. At the other end had Mayo posessed forwards with a greater collective confidence there would have been no way back for the Leinster champions.

Of the theories that abounded before the match, several proved accurate and a few were well off the mark. It was a close match Meath - to put it delicately - didn't do as well at midfield as had been the case in the semifinal and Graham Geraghty certainly didn't reproduce the fireworks that had scorched Tyrone and was well held by a crafty Pat Holmes.

Primary among the misconceptions were the great expectations of John Casey, who was confidently restrained by Darren Fay until switched before trudging off, substituted with 10 minutes left. Casey didn't receive great ball in the first hall, but there were some serviceable deliveries after half time with which he was unable to do much.

Other important exchanges broke even with Colm McManamon playing his usual roving role but was more effective in defence than up front. His marker, Enda McManus - as expected - stayed put and blocked the centre of Meath's defence which made it difficult for Mayo's full forwards to find the sort of space they ideally need. The result was a dismal single score for the entire line.

Martin O'Connell's excellence again was a major influence on Meath's full back line and having largely subdued a game but overpowered David Nestor, O'Connell was able to sweep around the defence tidying up loose ball.

The other cockpit battle saw Mayo's James Nallen switch onto Trevor Giles virtually from the start in an attempt to track the inexhaustible Skryne man. In retrospect, it was a mistake. Nallen was removed from the area where he has made greatest impact and his surging runs through the middle were missed.

Furthermore, the move did little to curb Giles who maintained the quality of performance that has made him Meath's most influential player on this now protracted campaign. As usual he drifted into the danger areas, performing his customary role as a trouble shooter. His free taking was reliable - just one miss, early in the match - and he potted two valuable scores from play, ending up as the match's top scorer with six points.

In the gloom of lost opportunity, Mayo shouldn't lose sight of the successes. Their wing forwards, James Horan and Maurice Sheridan, had been seen as the attack's less consistent contributors, but both put in positive displays. Sheridan maintained his now customary high standard of place kicking and threw in some welcome competitiveness, tackling and breaking ball for the midfield.

On the left wing - he and Sheridan swapped before the throw in - Horan ran riot in the early stages and had three points from play by the 22nd minute. Tainting his memories, however, will be a 43rd minute miss when having recovered the ball after Liam McHale had hit the post, the Ballintubber player struck the other post from close range.

Ray Dempsey played well, showing for the ball and taking a good share despite the tigerish attentions of young Mark O'Reilly who had a marvellous match at only 19 and despite conceding four inches to his man. Dempsey was to punish another young defender in the second half and in so doing, looked to have won the match.

Mayo led 0-7 to 0-4 at halftime. Having to face a strong wind, they would have been apprehensive at the start of the second half. Sheridan calmed them down with a well taken free in the 36th minute.

Nine minutes later, Paddy Reynolds fumbled a ball in front of his own goal and looked to have set it up for Dempsey. In the confusion, the under21 wing back regained possession only to lose it again. This time, Dempsey made no mistake with his finish to the net. Mayo led 1-8 to 0-5.

At midfield, Mayo had been winning plenty of possession, although John McDermott began to come into the match more and some of his defensive work was exceptional. McHale powered onto a load of ball, his distribution was faultless and if it didn't always lead to scores, that was rarely his fault. He was well supported by David Brady whose strength and hard work around the middle helped Mayo gain the upper hand in the sector until the crucial introduction of Colm Brady in the 58th minute.

The extent to which the goal seemed to freeze Mayo is evident from the statistics. In the final 25 minutes, they scored only one point and in their hesitant use of ball, didn't even register a further wide.

This wouldn't have been sufficient to save Meath, but for some switches at the other end. Mayo's full back line had an exceptional match. Kenneth Mortimer was the primus inter pares, never putting a foot wrong throughout. Dermot Flanagan recovered from a jittery start and Kevin Cahill shut out Brendan Reilly and, in the second half, Tommy Dowd, who - apart from one run which ended in Holmes having to clear off the line - had a quiet afternoon.

Noel Connelly, having moved into Nallen's spot at centre back, played well on Dowd, but conceded three points off Reilly in the second half. The benefits of this switch won't have been lost on either manager. Reilly looked more the prolific player of the campaign to date whereas Dowd perked up a bit in the familiar surroundings of the full forward line.

Meath steadily unravelled Mayo's lead, with Giles and Reilly the main contributors, before Coyle's late relief and the match was brought to a premature end by referee Pat McEneaney after only 15 seconds of injury time.