Regal Meath steamroll the champions

By the time he came into the Meath dressing room with a mouthful of gracious words the colour had gone from Pβid∅ ╙ SΘ's face. This was entirely new territory for any Kerry manager. To take a talented All Ireland winning team to Croke Park and see them beaten by 15 points.

And see them poor Pβid∅ did. The man who usually paces the sidelines with the ferocity of a caged animal spend most of the second half sitting in a forlorn shuddering huddle with his selectors. Behind them in the Hogan Stand, Kerry people streamed out the exits as to their right, the Meath fans on the Hill cheered like a bullfight crowd every time Meath taunted Kerry with the ball.

It was surreal, it was remarkable. It was the end of an era or the beginning of one, only time will tell.

"Last time I was in here after losing a game," said Pβid∅ ╙ SΘ, "was in 1998 and that was to the bold Micko. That was a fairly difficult one, much more difficult than today. Today was simple, lads, we were beaten in every sector of the field, outclassed everywhere. You made this journey very easy for me today. What can we say? We were beaten."

Beaten? 61,292 spectators were stunned. The All Ireland champions were humiliated, dismantled and posted home. It was sad to see a Kerry team so stripped of their dignity, poignant to see great heroes like Seamus Moynihan and Mike Frank Russell offering such resistance in the face of widespread collapse, almost unbearable to think that Maurice Fitzgerald might be bowing out like in this manner. No way to say goodbye.

The credit, though, belongs to Meath, who won by 15, yet had nine wides, a disallowed goal and the luxury of an amount of clowning for the gallery in the last quarter. This was a superlative performance, one of those displays which every great team longs to coax out of itself but seldom does.

They played with thought, with purpose and with passion. There hasn't been a better display of football seen in Croke Park in many years.

"Things like that happen in football sometimes," said Seβn Boylan with typical grace. Maybe they do. But they happen like comets or solar eclipses. Rarely and spectacularly.

For Boylan yesterday will have been something special. He remembers well the All Ireland of 1970 when Meath's superb and progressive team was dismantled by a catch and kick Kerry side who went away cackling that it had been "a bad day for the professors of Gormanston".

He will certainly have had nightmares about the All Ireland semi final of 1986, his breakthrough year when a soft goal after two of his defenders collided heavily let Kerry in for a decisive goal. Yesterday Boylan got the crowning glory which every great and serious football manager yearns for. He beat Kerry in Croke Park.

The victory was built on simple but gorgeous football precepts. Move the ball quickly, harry and hustle always, play the spaces, take the scores. Kerry lived with it, matched it even, for 10 minutes. Then it went away from them. They went from the seventh minute to injury time in the first half without scoring. They came back out after the break and went another 27 minutes scoreless.

At the other end of the field Meath strutted like matadors, picking and jabbing at the Kerry carcass. The shaven heads of Geraghty and Murphy danced in open prairies. Evan Kelly, Trevor Giles, Ray Magee and others kept digging and providing. The Meath defence, questioned publicly In inquests this year, was immense. There wasn't a flaw to be picked from the whole afternoon.

For Ollie Murphy, whose duel with Johnny Crowley was one of the most anticipated aspects of a match billed as the game of the year, this was a moment which could scarcely be comprehended. "Everyday you win in a Meath jersey is a good day but that was fantastic. We came in at half time and we were on edge thinking they were about to come back at us. We said 'it'll be tough out here now'. We went out and it was lads, kicking points for fun, it was unbelievable. It's weird.

"Nearly an anticlimax in here in the dressing room. It's the only way to win, though. No more heartstoppers. We were 10 points up and somebody said there's 10 minutes left. I think the concentration was gone by then. I was wandering a bit.

"Kerry fell asunder. It wasn't their day. It's bad for them. Tough. I don't know what went wrong for them. I was getting good kicking room all day. I was surprised; Mick McCarthy is a tight marker. They just knew, you could see it in their eyes, they were just going through the motions, like in a training match.

It was one of those days. I was on the team when Offaly beat us like that a few years ago. It just goes and there's nothing you can do."

Meath progress to an All Ireland final with Galway later this month. If there was a contest to see who might claim the coveted title of underdog it ended yesterday.