Gaelic Games: At the best of times the footballers of Dublin exist with a sword hanging over their heads.

Of all teams who set out on the All-Ireland journey each summer they are the ones least able to ignore that ominous shadow, they are the ones most fearful of the consequences of failure, the side most needing of success. Despite having won just a single All-Ireland title since the Heffernan era ended 22 years ago, Dublin is still a city fat with expectation and impatient with failure.

Yesterday in Croke Park disaster was averted and opprobrium was delayed. Meath were vanquished and for now all is right with the sky-blue world. Dublin's four-point win was notable less for its style than for its method.

With Meath breathing down their necks in the closing minutes Dublin pulled away with three unanswered points to add a little ornamentation to their margin of victory. For Dublin the diminished drama of this game in comparison to the drawn fixture a fortnight ago was welcome relief.

And the Hill has a new hero to worship. Mark Vaughan, he of the bleached head and broad shoulders, has been a topic of debate in Dublin GAA clubs for some years now. The rawness of his style and the unpredictability of his temperament have divided opinion fairly evenly. Yesterday after a long apprenticeship he was the instrument of Dublin's salvation and his presence, swashbuckling and swaggering, seemed to give them something they have lacked for a while.

He scored eight points, half of Dublin's total. He hit the woodwork twice. After 21 minutes he assumed the grown-up position of centre forward with no apparent distress and he took whatever hits and tackles Meath could offer without blowing anything in the circuitry of his brain. Dublin were pleased.

"Well, yes, he had a big responsibility out there" said manager Paul Caffrey, who as a rule doesn't do gushing. "But he took his opportunity very well today. He kicked his frees and I thought from play he contributed very well."

That Vaughan would start instead of Darren Magee, who injured a hand in training during the week, was a secret about as closely guarded as a good titbit from the Mahon Tribunal.

Meath, however, having ballyhooed the hurrahed about the return from suspension of their top scorer, Brian Farrell, opted at the last minute not to play him but to use their impact sub Cian Ward from the start. Despite Ward scoring a free in the first minute with his first contribution the youngster faded slowly, didn't score again and was replaced in the second half.

For Dublin Magee's absence and the restoration of Shane Ryan to midfield worked well.

Nobody on the Dublin side scavenges for salvage with quite the hunger Ryan brings to the effort and he ran himself into the ground yesterday coursing breaking ball. Apart from a period in the second half where Nigel Crawford established a platform in the middle third of the field, Dublin produced enough possession to win even on a day when Tomás Quinn was held scoreless and Conal Keaney and Alan Brogan failed to score from play until the dying minutes.

What Dublin will surely extract from the afternoon's work is the pleasure of having been the more composed side in the frantic final minutes of a big game with Meath in Croke Park in front of 82,206 people.

Precedent suggests that under those circumstances, with a point dividing the sides going into the final five minutes, everything Meathmen have been taught from the cradle will stand to them.

Instead Dublin saw Vaughan drop a 45-metre free short and, rather than getting into a tizzy, knuckled down and scored the last three points of the game.

It was jarringly novel for people of a certain age to watch Dublin and not Meath bringing the chilled detachment to bear under such circumstances.

Colm Coyle, the Meath manager, who as a player was a key component in many of Meath's more celebrated escape performances, was relatively unperturbed afterwards that his young side had failed to emulate their predecessors. Philosophical about missed chances at crucial moments of the game, he looked instead to the challenge of the qualifier series which begins next week. "Traditionally Meath have done very badly in the qualifiers but I'm looking forward to us going there and giving it a good rattle," he said.

For Dublin the summer continues apace. They find themselves back in their familiar Croke Park billet next Sunday when they share the sward with Offaly. The Hill will bulge and the sword will hover. That's what summer is all about.