The vividness of everything blinded him. The stark white which coursed across the Kildare sections, all the countless Meath banners and the implosion of noise when they hit the field. Last year was Hank Traynor's first Leinster final and even though they lost that didn't dull his appreciation any.

"I never experienced the like of it and all I know is it's something I want to go through as often as possible. Even the thought of this Sunday gets me buzzing. There's already a fair bit of talk around Navan, people wishing you well and coming up to you on the street. This time of year is what it's all about."

Traynor is one of the newer names on a team which Sean Boylan seems to seamlessly re-invent season after season without any real identifiable transition period. After getting acquainted with the squad over the forgettable winter of 1997, he was fired in as a substitute in that year's Leinster semi-final - "an unbelievable step up" - and has more or less featured in Boylan's plans ever since.

The last time we saw Meath was on a dank day in Croke Park, when both they and eventual league champions Cork ran fretfully about, desperately trying to kick scores. The overwhelming lack of accuracy almost had an entertainment value in itself. Cork won out, mainly due to astute defence and, afterwards, the Leinster side looked genuinely glum with Boylan inviting anyone who thought Meath didn't care about the league to ask his players for comment.

"At the start of the year, we gave huge priority to the league in that Sean wanted as many competitive games as possible. The game before that, we were kicking points from every angle in a gale against Kerry down in Limerick. People said it was a freak. I wouldn't read too much into that or the way we were against Cork.

"We know ourselves how good we are and it's probably somewhere in between those games," he says.

Since then, they have gone to ground with typical single-mindedness and, according to Traynor, have filled their minds only with thoughts of Wicklow. That some are tipping them for September action is irrelevant.

"You just can't afford to think like that. Wicklow lost what, just two games in the league, and ran Kerry very close at the end. They are a competitive team. When it comes down it, everyone's ultimate objective in this is to win an All-Ireland. But such is the nature of the competition that you can't think of the big picture. It's just game after game."

Traynor was reared on tradition. He grew up in Navan at a time when most kids wore the old green jerseys laced with yellow checks and followed Liam Harnan or Mick Lyons or David Beggy. It was an era which spawned the idea of victory as birthright in Meath.

"It was definitely an encouragement that Meath were going well at the time. But I kind of drifted into the game. You'd play games of soccer with the older lads and get into the scene that way. I suppose the fella that really encouraged me was (Irish Mirror sports journalist) Colm Keyes, who was flying with Simonstown Gaels at the time. That's how it started really."

Traynor speaks with a lilting and unfussy drawl, a casual nonchalance that befits his christian name. He mosies through sentences and initially approached his football with the same sort of attitude.

Then came minor honours and a galling 1993 All-Ireland final loss to Galway. Three years later, the under-21 side on which he featured made it to the semi-final stage.

"It was terrific to be representing the county even at that level and, I mean, I was putting in the effort, but I never really had grand designs on senior football. I was just delighted to get the call and, to be honest, I found it a massive leap at first."

After all, he stood in the Canal End in 1996 for the infamous Meath-Mayo All-Ireland series, "jumpin' up and down with the excitement".

So he was still a fan when Meath were to some extent vilified, with questions posed over their style of game. Now that he plays, does he feel their style of game is still an issue?

"Ah, I know that Meath teams play hard on occasions. But it's always fair. I think there was an inference for a while that there was a nastiness or dirty streak in our play which I don't think was ever there. And with the card system now, every team has to be careful. Sean gave us copies of the precise rulings and we intend to abide by them. We had very little difficulty with it over the league," he says.