Meath strolled from the sward yesterday unruffled, unmolested and champions of Leinster again. The leisurely nature of their demolition of Dublin spoke volumes for the state of football in either county.

The margin of five points, which not only failed to flatter Meath but which distorts the facts of the game, was the most which Meath have beaten Dublin by in 35 years.

Meath thus qualified for their first All-Ireland semi-final since 1996. At that stage they will play Armagh, who comfortably beat Down in the Ulster final at Clones yesterday to emerge from Ulster for the first time this decade.

Croke Park drew 56,315 paying customers yesterday. They had to make do with the remembrance of times past. The game never roared to life as Dublin and Meath games used to do. For long periods it seemed as if everything Dublin knew was already comfortably contained in Meath's footballing mind.

It could be so. Tom Carr, Dublin's manager yesterday, was the seventh incumbent to hold the job during Sean Boylan's epic reign in charge of Meath. The quiet Dunboyne herbalist broke them all except Kevin Heffernan, and unless Carr can reverse Dublin's decline sharply next summer Boylan will be facing his eighth Dublin manager early in the millennium.

It was a day upon which Meath produced a seamless team performance sequinned by some wonderful individual displays. Ollie Murphy, their young corner forward, registered 1-5 from play, and while Trevor Giles scored more modestly his creativity was at the heart of every good thing which Meath did.

At the other end, Dublin managed just three points from play and were locked out by an effective Meath defence. Cormac Murphy, the Meath corner back, identified Meath's meanness as a key in locking out the game.

"We managed to shut them down quite well in the end," he said, "and from the time of the goal - even if they came back they weren't going to go by us at that stage. They had three frees which they took points from. I suppose there was nothing they could do at the end. They weren't coming through for a goal, there was no way that would happen."

Dublin looked under-motivated and outclassed for long periods. Meath, on the other hand, while never at full stretch never wanted for motivation. Player after player in the Meath dressing-room mentioned that they had worked yesterday for Tommy Dowd, who missed the game through injury, and for John McDermott, who lost his mother last week.

"We won it for Tommy and John," said team captain Graham Geraghty. "There was a lot of hunger out there today because of those two guys."

For Dublin, defeat means that the county has now endured its longest spell without a provincial title since before the breakthrough made by Heffernan's team in 1974. For the drought to come immediately after an All-Ireland win makes it all the more marked. Yesterday's team looked naive and well off the pace, and as Carr conceded, "We were exposed to an extent today."

In Clones meanwhile, Armagh made a breakthrough which they have been hungering after since 1982 when last they won an Ulster title. Their comprehensive, 11-point dismantling of neighbours Armagh will have been especially sweet after having to endure the sight of two All-Irelands being celebrated just across the border in recent years. The architects of Armagh's success were Oisin McConville and Diarmuid Marsden, the twin-engined full forward line who scored 3-9 between them to put the game beyond Down's grasp.

The game was essentially won in the first half when a goal each from McConville and Marsden were the knockout blows. The first, after just 12 minutes, was an augury: Marsden fetched a long ball and hand-passed to McConville, who finished with aplomb.

Nine minutes later Marsden, under a steepling pass, caught and slipped the ball to the net as he landed, leaving his side five points ahead.

It was a day of harsh truths for a Down team which felt that another Ulster title would copperfasten their claim to be the team of the Nineties. Mickey Linden was withdrawn on 60 minutes to be replaced by James McCartan. Greg McCartan was introduced earlier to slightly better effect, and full back Sean Ward was sent off following a rash tackle.

Meath and Armagh now have four weeks to prepare for their tussle in the semi-final "I'll go home and have a look at their game. I'm told they were fairly impressive," said Graham Geraghty, the Meath captain, about his side's next opponents. "For us that was possibly one of our best performances. It was a good, all-round performance. By the sound of things we'll need another one soon."