That September was a good month for young Fay. Simple, happy times in Trim. Daily kickabouts after school. Chasing back to the house at tea-time and tuning into the Olympics out in Seoul. No homework worth talking about, not with classes just beginning. And on the third Sunday of the month, lining out for Meath on All-Ireland final day. Keeping goal, just like his Dad.

"That was my first playing experience in Croke Park. It was just a half-time under-12 match, you know, 10 minutes long. Paddy Reynolds was there as well and Barry Callaghan. Probably one or two others I'm missing out," he recalled this week.

While Darren Fay manfully put as much distance as possible between his kick-outs and goalposts, sneaking half fearful glances at the echoing, flag-laden Hogan Stand, the Meath seniors sat below in the dressingroom, mulling over how to rid themselves of Cork. (They eventually spirited a late draw, Brian Stafford punishing a phantom foul which was missed by all except the referee).

"With the team that Meath had in '88, I suppose it didn't seem all that unusual to be playing in Croke Park. And I was aware from a young age of what Meath football was. Mick Lyons is a great friend of my father's and he was always dropping in to the house. I even remember Sean (Boylan) from when I was a gossoon. Football just seemed to be something my father did."

Fay's father Jimmy kept goal for Meath for six years. Darren was always vaguely conscious of the whole scene, knew there was something alluring and important about it. "In 1984, one of his last years playing, they won the Centenary Cup. It was a big thing. I don't recall the game itself, but I just have this memory of running around the Burlington that night asking all the players for autographs."

Reared in Trim, he took to football quickly, like the rest of them in his class. He wasn't especially tall then, but light feet and suppleness caught eyes from the early days and, smoothly, he paved his way on to the county's underage sides.

"I only started shooting up when I was about 16. I almost always played in defence and maybe the fact that I wasn't tall helped me tailor my game. But we were always coached in a certain way anyhow, with an emphasis on sharpness, meeting the ball, giving direct passes to the target men. That's the way the game is played in Meath."

With his mid-teens came the physical maturity to complement the guile. In 1993, he found himself back in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day, this time at centre half back as Meath fell to Cork in the minor match.

"It started to happen quickly around then. The following summer, I played under-21 and we made an early exit against Dublin. I was on the senior panel for the 1995 championship game against Dublin."

Fay watched on from the bench as Dublin remorselessly ran them ragged, skinning their youthful impudence with a 10-point whipping. Trevor Giles typified a brittle team effort and, around the county, the long-term prognosis was gloomy. So they wintered with resolute ambition and stormed their way through Leinster and on to the 1996 championship after a tempestuous affair with Mayo. "When I came into the panel at first, there was still quite a few lads left from the great 1988 side, but basically Sean was trying to rebuild. It takes time to bridge the gap left by the departure of experienced fellas and that 1995 game certainly helped us learn quickly. And it was also hugely motivational when the next summer came around."

By then, Fay had established himself as indispensable material, an astonishingly composed young defender, stubborn and focused. His voice, low and measured, mirrors a seemingly imperturbable personality.

It never occurred to him that there was anything particularly special about Meath's resurgence, never did he feel fazed by the fact that they were contenders again.

"I was just concentrating on my own game, one Sunday at a time. We got past Carlow early on and just took it from there. Every year, teams set out with the same goal, to win the championship. That's the way we approached it and self-belief carried us through."

In the weeks after the '96 All-Ireland final, radio phone lines hopped, Mayo folk seethed and the GAA cringed in the wake of the unsightly dust-up which shaped the replay. Meath said nothing and celebrated among their own. Fay remains nonplussed by it all.

"What can you say about that except that it happened? Thirty seconds in 140 minutes of football. The media perhaps prolonged it, talking about suspensions and everything. I mean, certainly suspensions were deserved and fair play to Croke Park for taking the stand they did, but the thing itself wasn't all that bad."

It sparked off murmurings, though, of an underlying cynicism pervasive in Meath football, talk that Sean Boylan's men hit hard, often regardless of where the ball is. Even this year, when they methodically dismantled Offaly's dreams, there were complaints that the third-man tackle had enjoyed a starring role.

"I know there was people on the radio call-in shows after that game all right. If those things are said, well, it doesn't bother us. I don't feel it's fair. Meath don't set out to hurt or injure anyone, we just go about playing our own game, trying to win."

And winning Meath teams are nothing unusual. At training last week, they jogged a few laps and someone mentioned that they were three to one for the All-Ireland.

"It's just crazy when you consider how the standard has evened out in recent years. Meath are one of these teams that just seem to be fancied most years and that's fine. We just laugh it off, don't treat it all that seriously."

But the solemnity will come tomorrow. Last summer, they got to play too much golf after Offaly stunned them in the Leinster final. Fay didn't play, suspended after his sending-off in the second replay against Kildare. With Roy Malone running riot, his absence was noticed.

When Meath regrouped, they set their jaws and built towards the All-Ireland. "Sean Boylan instills you with incredible self-belief. He is fairly low-key in his approach, just talks common sense really. Training under him is great, there is no hanging about, it's all short, sharp drills. Naturally, he makes sure we are at peak fitness, which is par for the course now, but he brings a calmness and confidence to the team as well."

Both of which will be required in the white heat of tomorrow's Leinster final. All summer, Kildare folk have insisted that this is their year and mutinous proclamations have drifted across the border into Meath. The Lilywhites have acquired some of their neighbours' mettle.

"All this talk of Kildare not having the bottle in big games or whatever, it just doesn't apply," offers Fay. "Naturally, a win for them on Sunday would bury that image, but even last year against us they proved themselves as a tough, hungry and very professional team."

He reckons tomorrow's game will be no pretty, free-flowing classic. Image means nothing when it comes to dog fights.

"There won't be much given away by either side. Whoever benefits from the breaks around midfield will have a big advantage. And there is a big rivalry here, things will be a little more intense than normal. But sometimes those sort of games are often the best to play in. This Meath team are young and winning an All-Ireland hasn't lessened our hunger. Being honest, I'd have to say that I want to win about three All-Ireland medals before I leave this game." And he says this with no arrogance, just plain conviction.