KILDARE travelled to Navan yesterday needing to calm rising fears in the county of another false dawn - two league losses on the trot had sceptics whispering. Mick O'Dwyer's difficulty now will be to calm rising expectations after a display that was little short of devastating.

The home side, in mitigation, fielded without Trevor Giles and Martin O'Connell, among others. The final score would have been closer but the result no different such was Kildare's commitment to the battle.

"We were hammered," was Sean Boylan's summary. "The 15 played exceptionally well, it was a great team win."

O'Dwyer was reminded that Kildare also won the corresponding fixture last year by some distance - and look what happened to them to them in summer. He wasn't the manager then but he needed no reminding. "Meath will be a different prospect in the championship - we're not that foolish!"

His worry is that his somewhat schizophrenic side will also be a different prospect in the championship, given their wild mood swings in recent years. He would happily settle for the mood they were in yesterday - totally focused, mentally strong, and physically abrasive.

The result was blanket domination in every sector. It was almost a bonus that they moved the ball with style and intelligence, creating some delightful scores in each half.

The surprises didn't finish there. It was startling, for example, to see Meath's Mark O'Reilly and Darren Fay getting the first torrid days of their senior careers. They were thoroughly discomfited by Johnny McDonald and Martin Lynch, at corner and full forward respectively. Both scored three from play, Lynch engineering several more.

McDonald best exemplified Kildare's mood. Beaten by O'Reilly to the first two balls sent into their corner, it looked like the corner back was on his way to grinding down another opponent. McDonald, instead, came gunning for the next few, won them, and grew in confidence - two of his three points were top class finishes.

So also were the points taken by his defensive colleagues, four in total from a backline that attacked with class and defended with conviction.

Lynch's positioning at full forward had left Kildare looking somewhat lightweight at midfield in recent matches but Niall Buckley turned in a hugely impressive performance on his first game back. His partner, Dale Hynan was, in the words of O'Dwyer, a revelation". The 23 year old had previously played one full game in the O'Byrne Cup along with an appearance as substitute against Derry two weeks ago. The jersey is his if he keeps his form.

Meath's John McDermott look down a few big fetches but he and Kevin Cahill struggled for parity at midfield. Their situation was almost impossible in the first half goalkeeper Conor Martin was kicking into a gale and with the kick outs dropping on his own half back line, McDermott rose repeatedly only to find a flurry of Kildare fists arriving from behind to punch the ball back in.

It was backs to the wall for Meath's defenders in that first half and with Graham Geraghty brought from full forward to supplement midfield, Tommy Dowd was left spectating in splendid isolation at the other end.

It took Kildare some time to convert domination into scores - they had one point on the board after 14 minutes. But something had to give and when McDonald fired over from long range in the 15th, six more followed to leave Kildare well in front at the interval, 0-8 to 0-0.

PJ Gillie, on his first full competitive game since the 1995 Leinster Final, was entrusted with the frees in Giles's absence but he was nowhere near ready for this task and fluffed some efforts from close range. Evan Kelly took over with similar results.

Meath nonetheless had been typically competitive in that first half and with players on both sides flying into the tackles, it made for a full blooded contest that, more than once, flared into confrontation. It made for an absorbing spectacle, however, the teams going for it terrifically despite the wind and driving rain.

Boylan and his players no doubt anticipated some advantage from that wind in the second half. However, the wind faded significantly in this period. Kildare, in any event, dug even deeper, tackling in packs and working relentlessly.

Meath's proven facility to engineer goals was needed to ignite a comeback in that second half and, bang on cue, it arrived. Kildare had stretched their lead to nine in the first minute but Graham Geraghty had the ball in the net within 60 seconds at the other end.

Substitute Cathal Sheridan did well to take a high ball on the edge of the square. He slipped it to Geraghty who bought enough room for the shot - Anthony Rainbow's diving blockdown helped only to deflect it past Christy Byrne in the Kildare goal.

Kildare's reply was instant, however, McDonald converting superbly from an improbable angle. They continued to tag on the points, turning the screw as the game entered its final quarter. Dowd was unlucky when he dribbled the ball 30 yards, keeping control on the treacherous surface only to see his side footed effort roll wide of the right upright.

That was their final chance of a comeback. Kildare subsequently cruised to the final whistle, leaving the field to almighty applause from their large support.