A no-frills trip back to the top for Meath. In the rain and the treacherous conditions at Croke Park yesterday, the Leinster champions again proved masters of grim resolution in winning the Bank of Ireland All-Ireland football championship against a battling Cork side.

Many things didn't go to plan in this year's final, but Meath's capacity to eyeball the abyss and survive was familiar stuff. Unfortunately so was the football. After as poor a championship as anyone can remember, the game was in need of a good-quality final.

Yesterday, despite the excitement of a closely-fought match, it didn't happen. Neither team can be really blamed. Both had long ago established their credentials as the best teams in this year's championship and they deserved a better stage than that allowed by the slippery underfoot conditions and greasy ball.

Cork have previously thrived in such conditions but have enough football to prefer better weather whereas Meath have had dry, summery days so far this campaign and were probably the more disadvantaged by the surface.

If Meath's more formidable appetite was the obvious impression of the closing 10 minutes, the nuts and bolts of this All-Ireland victory were equally plain. They were tight enough to shut out a Cork attack which struggled both to win ball and to make the best of what possession was gathered.

Centrefield ended up competitive rather than dominant with John McDermott quiet for much of the match until the finishing tape hove into view. Nigel Crawford played well, but again Cork demonstrated that their pairing was under-rated and once more Michael O'Sullivan gave an earnest hard-working display and stood his ground with the formidable McDermott.

Yet the match was won in attack where, for slow learners, Meath re-emphasised that their panel contains players sufficiently comfortable in attack to take on the scoring burden when required.

It wasn't one of Trevor Giles's more triumphant days. Widely recognised as the most influential forward in the game, he found the match and Owen Sexton's confident performance hard to adapt to and although he saw enough ball, his accuracy wasn't up to the usual standard. Four wides and a poorly struck penalty which Kevin O'Dwyer saved were the more depressing statistics of his afternoon's work.

But if Giles has an over-riding strength it is the ability never to be flustered and despite the above problems he came into his own when the match was there to be won. Firstly he was switched to the wing and began to win abundant possession. His use of the ball improved and his 59th minute 45 set the team on the road to victory.

Throw in the long-distance bomb dropped on Graham Geraghty which was the genesis of Meath's goal and it can be seen that Giles's frustrating day at the office was a relative matter.

Elsewhere there emerged players willing to take on additional responsibility. By half-time, Evan Kelly would have walked any man-of-the-match awards. Tracking back from the wing, he quarried a good bit of possession and up front took three points from play to keep Meath competitive on the scoreboard during 35 minutes in which Cork had a good share of the play.

It could be said that two of these points were actually goal chances, but Kelly is a calculating player in such situations - as he proved in the semi-final against Armagh when sensibly kicking the insurance score for a four-point in the 70th minute despite having Geraghty clear on the inside.

Yesterday Geraghty had a memorable match at full forward. He has been identified in the past as a player who doesn't always fulfill his dramatic potential on big days. This time, however, there could be no such reservations.

Although Sean O hAilpin had one of best matches for the county's footballers, Geraghty played a captain's role by making a critical difference on the day. He got the knockdown for Ollie Murphy's goal, sent the same player through for what was nearly another goal, was fouled for the penalty just after the interval and scored three points from play, including one off his left foot which turned the course of the final.

In general play, there was a sense of how his play has matured. Previously a hot streak on the wing who could be decommissioned by tight marking, his move to full forward has necessitated the taking-on of greater responsibility. Yesterday he played inside with Murphy and fully accepted that he would make the plays for him more than would happen vice versa.

Cork's problems were unaccustomed ones. After a year when their will to succeed has been stronger than their opponents', they struggled to make chances count. Resilient when under pressure and clinical when exerting it, they suffered a reversal of fortune yesterday.

Having taken control of the match after the first 10 minutes, Cork squandered a lot of chances with captain Philip Clifford shooting three successive wides before finding his range and going on to have another hugely impressive match for the county.

As usual he showed courageously for ball and won a reasonable amount. Furthermore his free-taking in the second half was nerveless and kept Cork in the hunt as long as they were. Again he was the star of the attack.

Others weren't having a great time of it. Both Podsie O'Mahony and Mark O'Sullivan had off-days under the vigilant supervision of Paddy Reynolds and - most outstandingly - Mark O'Reilly, whose reverse-alchemy later turned Cork sub Fionan Murray's hitherto golden touch into something less valuable.

Don Davis sustained much punishment playing as deep-lying full forward but didn't manage to faze Darren Fay or open up in the company of the calm and super-efficient Enda McManus.

Cork's defence did its job well for most of the match but shipped critical blows from time to time. Martin Cronin struggled on Kelly during the first half with severe consequences on the scoreboard. Anthony Lynch fought hard to subdue the menace of Ollie Murphy and largely succeeded, but that has to be qualified by one of the main axes on which the match turned.

Meath were weathering Cork's supremacy quite well and leading 0-3 to 0-2 when in the 25th minute Giles launched a ball in on the square where Geraghty broke it down to Murphy. The Carnaross player has a good goalscoring record and showed why by carrying the ball slightly around the cover before firing across O'Dwyer into the corner of the net. It was the score which separated the teams at half-time.

At the break Cork were concerned at the chances which they had created and not taken, including eight wides, whereas Meath knew that they would have to up the ante to guarantee the title.

Within minutes of the restart the match was turned on its head. Firstly Geraghty, having taken a good high catch, was brought down for a penalty by O hAilpin. Giles, a virtually impeccable penalty-taker, hit his shot low and to O'Dwyer's left, but the 'keeper had enough time to get down to it.

Almost immediately Clifford kicked a point for Cork and three minutes later, Kavanagh played a one-two with O'Mahony and pierced the centre of Meath's defence before finishing to the net with a rocket which Cormac Sullivan nearly lost his hand trying to keep out. Within 60 seconds, Murphy stumbled at the other end when clear on goal but still nearly scrambled the ball into the net.

With these flurries Cork seemed to blow out and rather than taking control of the match, they watched as Meath regained the initiative. Clifford kept them afloat until the last 10 minutes when, with McDermott and Giles finally in control and substitutes Richie Kealy and Barry Callaghan making an impact, Meath powered down home.

It only remained for Tommy Dowd, his season wrecked by a back injury, to come on in the last minute to provide a touch of romance on what had been a ferociously functional afternoon.