It's not in the nature of matches between these counties to be easily won but Meath's victory in the Bank of Ireland Leinster football final of two years ago bucked that trend. There may have been only five points on the final scoreline but Meath were infinitely better.

Understandably Dublin show considerably more changes than Meath from that afternoon. But how much ground have they made up on the favourites in that time?

Judged on the teams' respective semi-finals there's still a bit of a gap to be bridged. Meath exhibited against Kildare the calmness and ability to pick their moment that has characterised this team at its best. There are relatively few changes from the side that won the All-Ireland in 1999. John McDermott's return means that 13 of the side that started two years ago are still in place.

In McDermott's absence the two Nigels, Nestor and Crawford, played well against Offaly and Kildare. The latter was particularly good and performed well above his known form this year. This sums up one of the most obvious strengths of Seβn Boylan's teams. Individuals nearly always play above themselves and the unit outstrips the sum of the parts. Nestor now lines out at centre back, not an impossible task for a versatile player who managed a man-of-the-match display at wing back on his debut, against Dublin four years ago.

Defence is likely to be sound - allowing for Mark O'Reilly's uncharacteristic difficulties the last day. Centrefield will be interesting. How match-fit McDermott is will be the big question. Even if he doesn't make the 70 minutes, Meath have options in the area with Enda McManus on the bench to liberate Nestor if needed.

With all sectors ticking over nicely against Kildare, it only required the attack to click to take the match. That eventually happened as Trevor Giles began to wear down Kildare's beleaguered defence and Ollie Murphy and Graham Geraghty took flight.

Dublin should be better served in the full-back line if only because Ken Doyle got sent off before the final quarter but they had their problems. Manager Tom Carr chided media coverage of Martin Cahill's battle with Vinny Claffey and pointed out that the Offaly veteran took only a point off his marker. In fact Claffey took his man for two points and a booking. There may be validity in saying that defenders should be judged on the bottom line rather than the optics but as Carr will remember from Peadar Andrews' infamous travails on Ollie Murphy in '99, optics can eventually impact on the bottom line.

We can't be sure about Jonny McGee's fitness after last week's car accident but even at full tilt, his game attempts to keep Giles in check two years ago eventually came to nothing.

Like his Meath counterpart, Darren Homan had his best championship match in the semi-final. He and Ciaran Whelan would have fancied themselves in this sector before McDermott's return. Even now, it should be remembered that Whelan was outstanding in McDermott's company two years ago.

There is room for improvement in attack. Dublin have two top-class forwards, Ian Robertson and Colin Moran. But against Offaly only Robertson played up to capacity, allowing for his ring-rustiness. At this stage Des Farrell may not be what he was but when he takes on a game, he has an impact as he proved again in the second quarter of the semi-final. and Jason Sherlock showed against Kildare last year that he still has much to offer.

On paper Dublin can glimpse a chance but in the heat of battle, Meath's credentials are far moremore impressive and that's hard to oppose.