Dublin and Meath. Tomorrow afternoon the counties meet for the 19th time in Seβn Boylan's 19 years in charge of Meath. It will also be 10 years and nine days since the conclusion of the counties' most famous championship contest. This came not in any of the 10 Leinster finals contested by the perennial rivals during those 19 years but in a first-round match, which gradually transfixed the sporting public over four weekends.

Scheduled for determination on the June bank holiday of 1991, the fixture instead wound through June and into July as three matches were drawn and the matter resolved by a point in a third replay that featured one of the most famous goals ever scored in football.

That they should meet in such an early round was because the provinces had introduced an open-draw format for their championships at the end of the previous year. Meath were an ageing team at this stage. Having won two All-Irelands in 1987 and '88, Boylan's side had lost the 1990 final and was perceived to be in visible decline.

Dublin, on the other hand, were on the up. The previous September Paddy Cullen had been appointed manager with selectors Pat O'Neill and Jim Brogan. The flamboyant former goalkeeper was proving the perfect front man for the confidently expected boomtime. As well as talking the talk, Cullen's management walked the walk and had delivered a National League title. Whereas no one was comfortable writing off Meath, Dublin were favourites - the coming team.

One of the newcomers on the Dublin team that season was Jack Sheedy. Although well into his twenties, he had largely escaped the attention of intercounty selectors. During the league he had attracted good reviews - having come to the management's notice in a series of trial matches the previous autumn - and was to play a major role for Dublin in the Meath series. When it was all over, he received an award as Dublin's best player over the four matches (Mick Lyons won the Meath equivalent).

"The abiding memory of it all was that it was so tough, so draining," he says. "And at the end was just the empty feeling of coming away with nothing. On the back of winning the league, we were optimistic.

Compared to Meath we were younger but we had experienced players and were confident in our game." That confidence took a knock as the matches went by. For a start the Dublin selectors sent out the wrong signals before the first meeting on June 2nd. Vinny Murphy had been an integral part of the team's early-ball strategy. Playing at full forward he had terrorised defences during the league but he was named at left corner forward for the first match. In a bizarre show of diffidence, the management named centre midfielder Dave Foran at full forward - apparently to contain Meath's full back, Lyons.

A major theme of Cullen's management had been moving the side on from reliance on the 1983 All-Ireland winning team. But as the series progressed, the discarded players began to reappear. Barney Rock actually saved Dublin in the second match - the only one of the four in which Meath had been clearly the better side - with the accuracy of his free-taking, scoring eight points. Kieran Duff, Gerry Hargan and even Joe McNally were to re-emerge over the series.

As uncertainty grew and the saga unfolded, previously central players such as Paul Curran, Paul Clarke and even Murphy got dropped.

Sheedy doesn't believe that the eventual defeat psychologically weakened a Dublin team that was to lose three successive years on the All-Ireland stage. But he concedes it had an effect. "We had a lot of momentum, a change of management and a good deal of confidence. There was a swagger about us and we were playing good football. Then it all came crashing down."

There were so many twists throughout the matches that it's difficult to identify a turning point. PJ Gillic's bouncing equaliser the first day was a freak but could also have been a goal. Keith Barr's missed penalty in the final match left the door open but Dublin still extended their lead afterwards. For Sheedy the two most frustrating incidents happened in the second match.

"Paul Clarke and Vinny Murphy collided with each other. They both went for a long ball with - I think - Terry Ferguson so three people ended up contesting the ball. If one had stood off there was only Michael McQuillan to beat. Then Vinny had a chance at the end of the same match but went for goal instead of taking a point.

"But over all four matches we all made mistakes. In the fourth match we were five or six points up but stood off them and allowed them run in a goal - and they had to get a goal at that stage." Kevin Foley scored the goal after 13 passes from the back, starting with Martin O'Connell. The match was tied and within a minute, David Beggy had shot the winner.

The last chance to equalise fell to Sheedy when a free was awarded about 50 metres out from the Canal End. He wasn't the regular free-taker but neither was anyone else then on the field. "It was," he says, "just a matter of someone taking the responsibility - or rather the blame. If it had gone over it would have been a bonus." It was too far out for a non-specialist and there was no sense in the ground that the free was going to force extra time.

That evening there was a reception for both teams in the Mansion House. Meath captain Liam Hayes specifically requested his to players to attend. It was, Sheedy recalls, a gesture that was appreciated by Dublin.

"There was always a competitive streak in the matches between Dublin and Meath and it got a bit nasty for a while. But after the four matches a respect grew out of it. At the reception in the Mansion House they turned up in fairness to them. They were equally as drained as we were; the only difference was that they had won."

His feelings about the four matches have become something separate from his memory of the defeat. "It was my first championship season and, apart from eventually losing the fourth match, I couldn't have wished for a better start."

Things got better for Sheedy as the years wore on, although his career did end in disappointment. In 1992 Dublin lost the All-Ireland final to Donegal. A year later Sheedy and Dublin had their revenge on Meath.

Having been pegged back to level scores in the Leinster semi-final, Dublin launched a final attack. Robbie O'Malley made a fine block on Charlie Redmond but the ball ran to the right wing and from about 40 metres, Sheedy popped over the winner.

In 1994 he won an All Star as Dublin lost another All-Ireland, this time to Down. When the county finally delivered 12 months later, Sheedy's season had been destroyed by a knee injury, picked up in a challenge match - against Meath.

By the time he had recovered, the county had new management. Mickey Whelan commenced started a clearout of many of the All-Ireland panel.

"I watched the '96 Leinster final from the stand," Sheedy remembers. "Sitting there all together were Paul Clarke, Vinny Murphy, Ciarβn Walsh and myself. The All-Ireland winning team had been broken up in the space of a year. I couldn't agree with what was done. It was very sad."