"Timber!" The sound of the All-Ireland champions crashing to the floor on Croke Park awakened new possibilities for Offaly and across the land in general.

Meath's unheralded neighbours crept stealthily up to the capital and, with their opponents yawning their way onto another campaign trail, managed to pull off a great coup. Though the game was no classic, the naked hunger in evidence was fascinating to behold.

Offaly came to set up a firm resistance, to contest every movement and to let Vinny Claffey and Roy Malone run riot up front, the way Dowd and Geraghty had done for Meath so often in the past.

It made for the usual riot of bodies congesting the midfield area, but Offaly were up for the physical stuff and, from early on, the encounter took on a bruising aspect. They also managed to confirm what has been long suspected about Meath; once their chief engineers - John McDermott and Trevor Giles - are neutralised, they are a stagnant force.

James Grennan and Ronan Mooney had the bulk and athleticism to foil the Meath midfield pairing as the game drew on and it was Offaly, crucially, who grabbed most of the breaking ball from those midfield tussles.

With Meath denied the wealth of possession they are accustomed to, Giles was simply unable to leave his unique stamp on the game. He hustled and grafted as ever, but even with the ball was unable to set the full-forward line galloping.

Cathal Daly switched over to tail Ollie Murphy at the start of the game and gave the Carnaross man his most torrid hour in headquarters, dogging him all afternoon. With Murphy shackled, Meath were seriously blunted.

While Offaly weren't exactly attacking with abandon either, their sense of imagination increased significantly after a dismal first 10 minutes. Colm Quinn was crucial to the attack, delivering a succession of passes for Vinny Claffey to work with.

Quinn's contribution was immense. Excellent in his free-taking duties, he also stepped up and sunk Meath with a delightfully angled point after 69 minutes which left Offaly 0-12 to 0-9 ahead. He then finished the issue by landing a 40-metre free in the dying seconds.

Finbarr Cullen, sliding into the half-forward ranks, also tormented the Meath defence in those final minutes. His two second-half points could not have been more timely. He skipped through a flurry of tackles to give Offaly a slender lead after 54 minutes and then nailed the point which pushed them two ahead.

Claffey once more belies his years. Still blessed with lightning pace, he showed consistently for Barry Mooney and Quinn and was a constant thorn. After 61 minutes, he chased after a loose pass from Enda McManus, snatched it and turned to whip a point that put Offaly 0-10 to 0-9 ahead. His team never looked back.

Although Darren Fay kept Malone scoreless, the big Rhode man also made himself a nuisance and kept the full-back line busy.

There was a flatness about Meath which suggested their unexpected ushering through to the league play-offs turned out to be a curse. The defence displayed its usual dogged courage, but lacked the urgency of last summer.

Mark O'Reilly retired earlier, bruised and tired. Cormac Murphy was burnt at times by his own sheer will, caught trying to blast his way up the field. Nigel Crawford also squandered vital ball.

But so often we have seen Meath embattled and below par and always some unlikely saviour has presented himself. Yesterday, Donal Curtis was the brightest light, arcing three fines scores from play and generally proving the liveliest of the front six.

He fired Meath's ninth point after 61 minutes, bringing them level and looked like the one who would drag them out of this particular storm.

But Meath, so used to coming through in scrapes like this, hardly saw the ball again. Underseige, they pumped long balls skyward which were returned with more forethought by David Foley, Sean Grennan and Mooney. During the final minutes, the champions appeared a little shell-shocked by the fact that Offaly had the temerity to take the game to them.

The omens were clear from early on, however. Unsure of themselves at the beginning, Offaly made up for some dire forward play by clawing and competing.

Meath casually asserted themselves, with Curtis lofting a fine score to complement Giles' early free. But, worryingly for them, they failed to build on it. It quickly became apparent that scores would be hard come by that frees would dominate the game. So it went.

Giles hit three in the first half but, vitally, missed a pair midway in the second half that might have stablised his team. Quinn, in contrast, had a perfect day with his duties. Tommy Dowd came in with 10 minutes remaining and, although he did win an early free, he failed to make the sort of dramatic impression we associate him with.

The game's only real goal chance fell to Offaly after nine minutes, when Roy Malone burst through only to see his low shot brilliantly parried by Cormac Sullivan. It was the first real evidence that Offaly's attack might have a bit more cut to it than Meath's.

The final surprise was the tameness with which Meath went out. They will be back, of course. As for Offaly, well, they have opened a door. Now, they must make sure they are the team to pass through it.