Leinster SFC First round: What happened? Given his team had been up by four points at the break, playing some of the best football seen in Croke Park, and then collapsed like a house of cards, that was the only question for Eamonn McEneaney.

"We lost," says the Louth manager, his face a mask.

Okay, next question. Why?

"I just can't explain that right now. We played very well for 35 minutes, and didn't play at all for the next 35. I know we lost our way at midfield and just stopped playing the kind of football we did in the first half. Passing, moving and supporting. Instead we were very naive in the second half. I suppose you don't just banish those bad habits overnight.

"But look, I never said we were going to win this one. I thought we had a great chance, and we showed that in the first half. But you have to play for 70 minutes. And I always felt that if we did fall behind there was a danger we could lose our shape.

"Hopefully we can get it back together for the qualifiers."

McEneaney knows that to go scoreless for half of any game spells disaster, which is what this result probably means for Louth after all the optimism of the league. Yet he was still trying to focus on the positive.

"We had a long league campaign and hadn't really had a break since February. It's possible the legs went a bit weary in the second half. They certainly looked weary. But I'll have to look at the DVD now.

"That goal chance also had a big bearing, and I think if that had gone in we'd be the ones going through to the next round. Meath were still fragile at that stage, and if we had scored I feel it would have been game over."

When Eamonn Barry appears from the Meath dressingroom the only question for him is what did he say at half-time that brought about such change.

"It's no secret at all," he says. "I just told them to go out and play with a bit of pride in the Meath jersey, which was lacking in the first half. Maybe that was down to complacency, and lads thinking they'd take Louth without having to go out and do it on the field.

"After that all our lads started doing what they're meant to do and showed real determination. They upped their work rate, and marked a lot tighter. And when we changed to the long ball it really paid rich dividends."

Was the switching of Graham Geraghty and Joe Sheridan, with Sheridan collecting 1-1 when moved to full forward, the difference?

"Yeah," agrees Barry. "But there are always players on this team to switch around, and we have options."

Geraghty agreed that the move helped turned the game: "It gave me a bit more space, because their full back was dragging on me a lot, and it was very hard to get loose. I'd a bit more freedom out there, and Joe Sheridan really came into his game . . . he's a big guy, well able to handle himself.

"Hopefully we can improve from here."