GAELIC GAMES/National Football League Division Two final: Seán Moran finds coach Seán Boylan in optimistic mood after the bounce back to the top division.

The word has been out on Meath this year. The county who during the reign of Seán Boylan, stretching back over 22 years, have run second only to Kerry in football's hierarchy are a buzz choice to stage a comeback and lift at least a Leinster.

This partly reflects the less than daunting standards in the province but is also testament to the old anxieties that Meath can stir up as well as the steadily rolling form they enjoy.

This weekend in Croke Park, the county take on Monaghan in the Division Two final of the Allianz National Football League. Meath are the only side to have completed the league unbeaten but reference to the fact prompts only vague unease from their manager: "Ah yeah, statistics - amazing what they turn up," he says.

But there are a few eye-catching statistics about the side which finally put one over on Fermanagh, the county who terminated Meath's last two summers.

"If you take the team that started against Fermanagh in the semi-final," says Boylan, "nine didn't start against Fermanagh in last year's championship and 12 didn't start against Fermanagh the year before."

You can throw in a couple of replacements to ease the impact of this but one way or another it's an impressive show of renewal. Unlike the team that emerged in the mid to late 1990s, Meath don't have a rising cadre already decorated with underage medals and there has been pessimism in the county that the raw materials aren't there anymore.

"A lot of people say the talent isn't there but it's more there's not enough to win minor and under-21 All-Irelands. There's always talent there - maybe not as much as people might have hoped for but it is there."

Neither was Boylan too fazed by the blowout of the under-21s in their Leinster semi-final against Kildare despite the high expectations of a cohort which had been All-Ireland minor finalists three years previously.

"It wasn't going badly until they lost Mark Ward who had been dominating midfield. That can happen at underage. If they got the chance to play it all again, even half an hour later, you'd have seen a different result."

The team's direct bounce back into Division One supports the view that they were a little unlucky to walk the plank in last year's league campaign after some reasonable performances. The memory still vexes Boylan.

"There were some weird decisions that went against us that had a huge bearing on what happened. Against Limerick the referee blew twice for a free out and still allowed a goal be scored without the free ever being taken. Still, you have to learn to take all of that and we found ourselves in Division Two, which is hard to get out of."

He concedes the less demanding environment has helped him to refine his options amid the helter-skelter demands of February and March with the Sigerson Cup, under-21 championship and rapid-fire sequence of league fixtures making continuity difficult to achieve.

The team have developed through the league, combining younger players with the more familiar names who continue to make an impact. Trevor Giles and Graham Geraghty - now at 32 the oldest player on the panel - are the backbone of the attack and Darren Fay, one of the few other survivors from the 1996 All-Ireland win, has returned to training.

The success against Fermanagh was a positive outcome even if the performance wasn't five-star. Boylan accepts that losing to the Ulster county in successive years had been demoralising.

"The only thing about last year was that at least we showed some competitive spirit. That fight was back and it continued through to the league and the first match with Derry."

A draw on the opening day was followed by seven straight wins including the semi-final. Monaghan are familiar opponents. In Boylan's second year they were the opponents Meath beat in the Centenary Cup final and more recently, the counties met in the 2003 All-Ireland qualifiers when Meath had to survive a late comeback.

One connection from that match is Colm Coyle, who is back as one of Boylan's selectors having managed Monaghan for the previous two years.

On the face of it this looks like one of those Division Two titles that occasionally get picked up by Division One teams. Meath's manager, however, is steering clear of hubris.

"I met people who were saying, 'it's like 1984 all over again' but that means absolutely nothing. Monaghan have earned this, beating Derry after being down to 14 men and, remember, we haven't beaten Derry in the league in all of my time here."