It may have been the result which nobody wanted but Meath's Trevor Giles obviously felt that it beat the alternative. His injury-time free tied up yesterday's Church and General National Football League final at Croke Park and left opponents Derry with the prospect of two league finals and a championship match in the space of 13 days.

On a beautiful, sunny afternoon before a crowd of 25,743 the match never really got going although there were flashes from both teams of what they do best. Having led for most of the match, Derry will presumably feel doubly frustrated at not winning and in the process involving themselves in needless fixture congestion.

They were the more urgent-looking of the two sides - hardly surprisingly given their championship date in six days time - but there was also something ominous about the way in which Meath contrived immediate responses to Derry scores on four occasions.

Meath's salvage job has also complicated their championship run-up as the replay takes place two weeks before their first championship match, against Offaly. Sean Boylan will also have to cope with the difficulty of a suspended Graham Geraghty.

Last year's captain got his marching orders in the 63rd minute and although he had been booked as early as the fifth minute, Geraghty was shown a straight red card for the second offence.

Referee Michael Curley's report will shed definitive light on the length of suspension the Meath full forward can expect but he can just fit in a four-week ban before the Offaly match although he will not be available for the league final replay on Saturday week.

Whatever the current demands of the their training schedule, the All-Ireland champions did not look terribly sharp yesterday. The crucial triangular threat of Giles, Geraghty and Ollie Murphy didn't materialise in full yesterday although Murphy managed a typically lethal piece of finishing for his team's goal. They were also sluggish around the middle where John McDermott is still regaining match fitness.

In this sector during the first half, particularly, Anthony Tohill justified his in-form billing with a masterful performance, winning good ball, using it well and scoring 1-1 from play in the first half hour.

It was, however, the same first half which probably cost Derry their fifth league title. They struck a succession of wides with the wind at their backs and lost concentration in the immediate aftermath of their 28th-minute goal. Clearances were also poor and the tendency to give away ball cost at least two points.

Although they were in front throughout the second half, it was only on a tit-for-tat basis and Derry led by more than a point for only one minute. In those circumstances, no team playing Meath is going to be too surprised at failing to finish the match in front.

Before the throw-in Niall McOscar came in at left wing back for Derry, to fill the vacancy in place of the injured Paul McFlynn. The match was quickly into character with the teams level at 0-3 each after 20 minutes.

Derry's rangy forwards created some good openings but failed to capitalise on them. As is often the case the elaboration of their short game slowed things down not always to their advantage. They weren't alone in a poor return from chances created as Meath ran up only one wide fewer - six as opposed to seven.

With Meath's big names up front failing to fire as irresistibly as usual, it was left to the returned Evan Kelly to pick up some of the slack - as he did so memorably in last year's All-Ireland semi-final and final. Noticeably busy around the field, he kicked two first-half points and performed some excellent link-work.

Both sides experienced early difficulties in the corner positions in their defences. Meath's Mark O'Reilly and Cormac Murphy switched shortly into the second quarter in response to the amount of activity on the right side of the Derry attack. Gary Coleman and David O'Neill also swapped a little later.

This was triggered by Meath's goal, itself an instant reaction to Derry's which Tohill tucked away after a great surge from outfield into the Meath goalmouth where he finished tidily, albeit with the help of the right post.

From the kickout, the ball broke to Kelly who threaded a pass in Murphy's direction. Gary Coleman appeared to have the ball but fumbled it and the Meath corner forward was in on goal for a companion score to the one he got during the controversial divisional meeting of teams two months ago. Immediately Coleman and David O'Neill were switched and the Bellaghy man marked Murphy well from then on.

Derry might have had another goal, just before Tohill's, but Cormac Sullivan in the Meath goal made a fine stop from Ronan Rocks and deflected the ball over the bar for a point. By the interval Derry led by 1-6 to 1-5.

Geoffrey McGonigle - a replacement for Johnny McBride - got the second half off to a good start for Derry, curling a free in off the post. Thereafter the portly Dungiven man threatened more than he achieved in the right corner - saving his most impressive yardage for a safari out to centrefield when he felt some incident required his advocacy.

Four minutes after the restart, the teams were level, 1-7 to 1-7. From then on, both sides exchanged scores one-for-one all the way through to the end with Derry leading the way.

With seven minutes to go, Geraghty got the line for catching Kieran McKeever with an arm. It made little difference. Enda Muldoon pushed Derry ahead in the last minute of ordinary time but an injury-time foul on substitute Nigel Nestor by O'Neill gave Giles the close but acutely-angled chance of equalising.

DERRY: O McCloskey; D O'Neill, SM Lockhart, G Coleman; K McKeever, H Downey, N McOscar; A Tohill (1-4, three frees), D Heaney (0-1); B Murray, D Dougan, R Rocks (0-2); E Burns (0-1), E Muldoon (0-2), J McBride. Subs: G McGonigle (0-2, both frees) for McBride (25 mins); R Dougan for Coleman (58 mins); S Downey for Burns (58 mins); F McCusker for Murray (65).

MEATH: C Sullivan; M O'Reilly, D Fay, C Murphy; R Kealy, H Traynor, P Reynolds; N Crawford (0-1), J McDermott (0-1); E Kelly (0-2), R Fitzsimons (0-1), T Giles (0-5, all frees); O Murphy (1-1), G Geraghty, D Curtis (0-1). Subs: N Nestor for Kealy (46 mins); J Devine for Fitzsimons (68 mins).

Referee: M Curley (Galway).