Dublin let it get a bit too close

Leinster SFC/ Dublin 1-12 Meath1-10: Just like old times. Despite the gloomy projections, Dublin and Meath helped pull 65,865 into Croke Park for yesterday's Bank of Ireland Leinster Football Championship quarter-finals. The big crowd wasn't the only familiar element, as the teams fought out a tense, tightly balanced contest with Dublin deservedly progressing to a semi-final with Wexford.

Gratified though Paul Caffrey and his management are to have edged out the old rivals, they will equally be aware that the match shouldn't have been as close as it was on the scoreboard, which in the end misrepresented Dublin's abundance of possession, particularly in the second half when Ciarán Whelan won a stack of ball around the middle of the field.

There were, however, positives. That the win was a jagged and close call isn't necessarily a bad thing for the team's morale. Over the past 20 years, defeating Meath has been a rite of passage for Dublin teams and you have to go back 25 years to find the last time the county failed to win Leinster having defeated their neighbours - a sequence that encompasses nine provincial titles.

In terms of performance there was plenty to encourage Caffrey. Alan Brogan was sensational, giving his best championship display since his debut season three years ago. Strangely, Mark O'Reilly was left as the marker, although, with the exception of one smart block, he was frequently caught for pace.

On top of his 1-3, Brogan managed to make a crucial intervention in his square a minute from the end of normal time to thwart a goal chance for Daithí Regan.

His goal tied the match at 1-3 each in the 17th minute. Having taken a good ball from Tomás Quinn, he burned off David Crimmins, came in from the right and created an angle to crash the ball into the net.

Conal Keaney provided a reliable focus at full forward, and Ciarán Whelan - who was exceptionally fortunate to spend more than a few seconds on the field having clocked Nigel Crawford at the throw-in - went on to give the type of display that must have left Meath ruing referee John Bannon's uncharacteristic leniency.

In defence, Stephen O'Shaughnessy had a superb match, subduing Joe Sheridan and holding his corner with great composure for a championship rookie, while at centre back Barry Cahill, who took a ball off the line in the 53rd minute, more than vindicated his manager's faintly controversial decision to move Bryan Cullen - who had another good day hovering up loose possession breaking off centrefield - to the forwards for the summer.

Poor finishing by the winners was the principal reason for the match finishing with only two points in it. For starters, the dead-ball nightmare reappeared to haunt Dublin.

It was a rough afternoon for Quinn, who worked hard in general play but missed his three frees and threw in two further wides from play. Even his point was a rather tame option after he had engineered a good position behind the defence.

This misfiring is also a setback for Caffrey, who had invested so much in Quinn being the solution to the problem but ended up taking him off on the hour.

The unfortunate corner forward also had a goal chance when he fisted a ball from close range, only for David Gallagher in the Meath goal to keep it out.

He then had to watch second-half replacement Mark Vaughan nervelessly kick two tricky frees late in the match - one from nearly 60 metres with the score a wafer-thin 1-10 to 1-9 - to define the difference between the teams. It was a grandstand finish from the Kilmacud player, who had suffered a little from over-eagerness when he first came on.

Conal Keaney missed the other great goal opportunity of the second half, squandering wide an opening ripped out of the Meath defence by a high-velocity line run by Brogan.

Early in the match, however, the pressure was on Dublin. Even though Meath were without Trevor Giles and Ollie Murphy, who made a late appearance as a replacement, Graham Geraghty made a terrifying start to the match. He kicked a point from the right, buzzed in from the left to set up Sheridan for a goal - a fantastic finish after he had calmly dropped the ball to avoid a block - and added another point, all within the first 13 minutes.

Crucially, though, he ran out of steam and could have been red-carded for a dangerous, high challenge on Keaney but the referee missed the foul.

Anyway his indulgence of Whelan made red-carding a Meath player an awkward proposition, something from which Niall Kelly definitely seemed to benefit in the 35th minute when he lashed at Paul Casey having clattered into him feet first.

Meath's best phase came in first-half injury time when they turned a one-point deficit into a two-point interval lead. Brian Farrell, who had a lively match for four points, kicked two, with Geraghty also popping over from an impossible angle.

Dublin held their nerve after the break, and it was the stepped-up display of the defence, which conceded only two points in the second half (the other coming from centrefield), that really settled the side.

Regan added some spark when coming into the Meath team, but although Dublin were living as dangerously as they were, there was none of the sense of menace that in the old days made even six-point leads feel worryingly small in the pocket.

DUBLIN: 1 S Cluxton; 2 P Griffin, 3 P Christie, 4 S O'Shaughnessy; 5 P Casey, 6 B Cahill (0-1), 7 C Goggins; 8 C Whelan, 9.S Ryan; 10 C Moran, 11 A Brogan (1-3), 12 B Cullen (0-1); 13 J Sherlock (0-1), 14 C Keaney (0-3, one free), 15 T Quinn (0-1). Subs: 19 S Connell for Moran (half-time), 21 M Vaughan (0-2, both frees) for Sherlock (half-time), 18 D Homan for Quinn (60 mins), 17 P Andrews for Casey (66 mins).

MEATH: 1 D Gallagher; 2 M O'Reilly, 3 K Reilly, 4 N McKeigue; 5 D Crimmins, 6 D Fay, 7 C King; 8 N Crawford (0-1), 9 A Moyles; 10 N Kelly (0-1), 11 P Byrne, 14 G Geraghty (0-3); 13 J Sheridan (1-0), 15 B Farrell (0-4), 12 S Bray. Subs: 20 P Reynolds for Kelly (43 mins), 23 J Cullinane for N McKeigue (blood substitute for Byrne 50 mins, Byrne back on for Crimmins 72 mins) (58 mins), 21 D Regan (0-1) for Sheridan (60 mins), 22 O Murphy for Crawford (74 mins).

Referee: J Bannon (Longford).