Same old story for Meath. Same old story for Meath's opponents. Armagh started well and two goals within 25 minutes seemed to validate their tactics of cramming the middle of the pitch and leaving their dangerous forwards alone on the inside. But after a second half of dramatically changed fortunes, it was the Leinster champions who qualified to play Cork in four weeks' time.

Yet even at their most phlegmatic, Sean Boylan's men must surely have been troubled by reaching halftime two points in arrears, with wind advantage behind them and their top scorer Ollie Murphy laid up with injury.

But then again, Trevor Giles embodies a brand of phlegmatism which makes his countymen look camp. Worried?

"Yeahhh," he responds stretching the syllable sceptically. "Physically we were struggling the whole game and with Ollie gone off, hard to know what way the wind was blowing. I suppose if Armagh had kicked a few points after half-time which they kicked wide, we would definitely have been in trouble.

"I can't remember what was said at half-time, but it was just a matter of trying our best because we were only two points down. They missed their chances and that got us back into the game and the sending-off helped us, too."

Yes, the sending-off. Ger Reid, Armagh's full back, had been hearing the tumbrils roll towards him all week in apprehensive anticipation of how he would survive marking Graham Geraghty. Often these public executions don't take place but yesterday this one did.

Starting the second half under enormous pressure, Reid was already carrying the baggage of a 17th-minute booking. When he was adjudged to have taken down his man, dismissal was inevitable.

Indirectly Giles was to blame. Seizing control of the match on the restart, he focused on Armagh's weakness.

Like a boxer relentlessly jabbing a cut opponent, he stuck a succession of ball in on top of Geraghty and Reid until eventually the pressure told.

"Graham was winning a few balls and I decided to get a few more into him. I thought he did very well in the second half, Graham. He won frees and a lot came off him so it worked out well."

Not, however, for Reid: "When you pick up a yellow card early on, it's bad news."

Having weathered the first-half storm, Meath steadied and took control, but a reflection of that on the scoreboard was a long time coming.

"Once we got back level and had an extra man, it was an advantage. But we didn't really kill it off. We were three points ahead for a long time and we could have lost the game easily because in all their games so far, they've battled back and never given up. A lot of wides alright. Corner backs came up the field and missed chances - it was that sort of game. Everyone was all over the place."

Boylan has probably seen too much of this sort of thing to get too panicky. Yesterday was his seventh All-Ireland semi-final in charge of Meath and he's now getting them ready for a sixth final.

"I knew we were in a shout because even with the goals the lads never panicked, but mind you, our shooting was atrocious but that's championship football, that competition. When you lose the likes of Ollie early on in the match, it was a big blow for us."

At the mention of atrocious shooting, corner back Cormac Murphy beams in recognition as he hovers outside the RTE interview room.

One of the corner backs whose wides were mentioned with some asperity by Giles, he has crowned his comeback year with a first All-Ireland final appearance and probably deserves to blow the odd shooting chance.

At the end of a long season, the Ulster title is to be the not inconsiderable extent of Armagh's summer's haul. But joint-manager Brian Canavan is unhappy at the sending-off of his full back.

"People are telling me that Gerard Reid should have had a free out before Graham Geraghty fell. It would be unfortunate if such a decision caused such an influence on a game, but I didn't see it so I'm not making any great comment."

Given the first booking, had he considered moving Reid?

"The first thing I'd have to say is I wonder why a Meath official went to the referee at half-time. I questioned that with some of the authorities here and they couldn't tell me. I thought the referee wasn't allowed to be spoken to by mentors but at half-time as TV pictures would show, a Meath official went straight to the referee. But it would appear strange to me that Gerard Reid was sent off for what at the end of the day was a flimsy tackle."

Meath's concerns switch to their growing casualty list. Ollie Murphy's knee injury won't be diagnosed until today, but the feeling was that it may require an operation - optimistically for cartilage rather than ligament damage.