Graham Geraghty has played many fine games in defence and attack for Meath, but none better than an almost flawless display in Navan yesterday.

The team captain's personal tally of a goal and seven points from the full forward position did not, however, secure the honours for his team but, on reflection, this was largely due to a misdirected pile driver in the first minute of the second half that screamed over the bar with Peter Travers looking helpless in the Down goal.

Geraghty's influential display was all the more meritorious in view of the fact that Down manager Pete McGrath says he regards new full back Ciaran Byrne as one of the stars of the Down defence.

"We make no secret of the fact that we use the league to try out new players," McGrath said, and many of his new recruits were obviously intent on making the most of it. Byrne and corner back Paul Shields were young defenders out to impress.

But Sean Boylan confirmed that his camp has a different attitude to the league. "We always go for it; we have won three in my time and were in the knockout stages numerous times."

an Byrne as one of the stars of his teams the Down defence.

Both McGrath and Boylan said they were pleased with the draw. "One point is better than none," said Boylan. "It was encouraging," remarked McGrath. But both team bosses, acutely aware of their teams' lowly positions in the league table can only hope that the PA man was not prophesying what could be in store for either team when he told the large crowd that this was a Division 2B match.

It was an absorbing rather than a spectacular match. Both sides had a high percentage of errors as they tried to shake off the winter blues. But the commitment, the closeness of the scoring and some superb scores combined to give the enthusiastic crowd full value for their money.

But despite midfield dominance by Gregory McCartan and Brian Burns for most of the first half and some of the second, Down lacked a target man of the calibre of Geraghty and perhaps played too much short ball to fully exploit the absence of John McDermott from the Meath team.

Even though Mickey Linden has had better days in the front line, the Down attack was led very capably by Shane Mulholland and was often a handful for the Meath defence.

Geraghty, after hitting an early point, undermined the confidence of the Down defence in the fourth minute when coming in on the end of a seven-pass end-to-end Meath movement to send a searing shot to the net. Donal Curtis, Evan Kelly and Ray Magee had been the final players in the move to set up the chance for their captain.

It wasn't easy to set up such moves when playing into a blinding sun. Down had the advantage of the first-half wind but could only contrive a one-point interval advantage, 1-7 to 1-6.

The Down goal, in the 16th minute, was the result of a sustained attack on the Meath posts. Ciaran McCabe was at the centre of a well-constructed move and when Patrick Sloan's initial shot came back off the crossbar, wing back Micheal McGill collected to slot home from close range.

McGill thus became the second Down defender to score within a minute with right corner back Finbar Caulfield having notched the previous point.

Meath got the opportunities to seal it in the last quarter even after an McCabe had restored the dogged Down team's lead with a great goal.

A see-saw struggle ensued; Geraghty levelled, Curtis put Meath ahead and Mullholland levelled, all within three minutes.

The big chances fell to the Meath men in the hectic closing stages - an Ollie Murphy shot was somehow saved by Travers, Curtis was badly wide and Geraghty hit a post.

Meath: C Sullivan; P Shankey, D Callaghan, C Murphy; P Reynolds, A Moyles, R Kealy; N Crawford, I McManus; E Kelly (0-1), R Fitzsimons, R Magee (0-1, free); O Murphy (0-1), G Geraghty (1-7, three frees), D Curtis (0-2). Subs: B Callaghan for Kelly (55 mins); G Codd for Murphy (69 mins); R Farrelly for Curtis (69 mins).

Down: P Travers; F Caulfield (0-1), C Byrne, P Shields; M McMurray, S Ward, M McGill (1-0); B Burns, G McCartan (0-3); C McCabe (1-1), S Mulholland (0-2, fees), P Sloan; M Linden (0-1), P McGrath, S Ward (0-1). Subs: A Molloy for McGrath (42 mins); P Matthews for Sloan (47 mins); S Poland for McGill (69 mins).

Referee: N Barrett (Cork).