"Yeah! Stephen Dillon is terribly dangerous from two yards," chuckles Sean Boylan. The Meath manager has heard most of the questions down the years and given most of the answers. There is a feeling that this is not the first time he has tossed out such an old line - about Meath's second goal - across a clutch of dictaphones, thrust into his face like food to a starving man.

But Sean Boylan has not known too many famines. Otherwise he would not still be the uncrowned King of Meath. He, above all else, is the reason that subjects of the "Royal" come in their droves to headquarters every year. Saddled with this burden, he is never less than amenable in his demeanour and generous with his time. He has been noble in both victory and defeat.

"We were as nervous as white hell going into this game. Don't forget that Offaly were the reigning Leinster champions. We needed that little bit of luck today," admits Boylan. In this sense, Meath did get the all-important goals at the best possible times. Each one was like a hammer blow to Offaly.

Indeed one could be forgiven for believing that all three were created with a touch of divine intervention. Many young parishioners around Seneschalstown have been known to bow down in front of Graham Geraghty. Such is his athletic prowess. Yesterday, he took the assist for all three of Meath's goals. "I only really meant the third one, but you can write that I meant all three," he says with a smile on his face.

Right corner forward Ray Magee may have been substituted late on in the game, but, by then, he had already provided the turning point. His goal came just as Offaly were building up a "head of steam."

"I saw Graham (Geraghty) coming through and I wasn't sure whether he was shooting for a goal or a point. The ball fell into my path and I just palmed it in," said Magee.

Meath stepped into the championship unknown to a certain extent with some players playing in unfamiliar positions, although that was never apparent during the game. Nigel Nestor provided a good defensive and distributive outlet for the towering John McDermott in midfield. "Well, I had to get stuck in right from the start. I was so drained last year because we were getting beaten. It is funny how that can affect you out there," said Nestor.

Like Nestor, Enda McManus had a relatively new position to master at right wing back. How well he did it. His opponent Colm Quinn was a tricky customer and started the afternoon as if he would torture the Dunboyne man. But McManus settled to his task. "When I first started to play wing back I thought I might have trouble with the pace of the game, but I have to really rely on reading the game and concentrating for the whole 70 minutes. The lads tracked back to cover the spaces and leave room up front, and I think that worked well."

A distraught Tommy Lyons has all the energy of a dead man walking. His whole year has collapsed in front of his eyes and within a matter of minutes he is expected to provide the reasons why to the waiting press.

"That goal (Magee's) killed our recovery. There were a couple of simple scores that we just didn't take. You need to knock them over," he said.

In the weeks ahead, Lyons will realise that this is not the end of the world, although it may feel like that this evening. Conversely, it can be merely the beginning, if he has the constitution to see things through. After all, he has dragged Offaly out of the footballing wilderness to become Leinster champions and National League winners.

"Don't forget that we are a young team," said inspirational captain Finbar Cullen defiantly with his hands on his hips. "This is all part of a learning process and we must look forward to next year. We tried to take the game to them, but they filled in the spaces we normally thrive on between the full back and half-back lines."

Perhaps, this was an indication of the tactical appreciation of Boylan. No doubt, he would have gone over last year's Leinster final tirelessly in the lead up to this game. Where Meath were weak last year, they were certainly not found lacking yesterday. The holes in defence were plugged, sometimes even by forwards like the remarkable Trevor Giles. And when this route to goal was denied Offaly, they seemed to be at a loss as to what to do.

Offaly selector Paul O'Kelly said:

"We were aware that was what they would do, but we thought if we got it wide, played good accurate passes into the spaces, that we could do it. Unfortunately our passing let us down badly today," admitted Offaly selector Paul O'Kelly.

"We didn't play to our game plan, didn't get players supporting the man aggressively on the ball. When we did win possession, too many times our 20-30 yard passes weren't accurate."