Dublin 0-13 Meath 2-06

A late point from substitute Mark Vaughan secured promotion for Dublin but this ill-tempered derby will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

After a mass sixth-minute melee, Dublin's Paddy Andrews and Bernard Brogan and Meath corner-backs Niall McKeigue and Shane McAnarney were all sent-off by referee Paddy Russell.

Ciaran Whelan followed them in the 15th minute for flooring Seamus Kenny.

Meath, who trailed by 0-05 to 0-04 at half-time, sparked a revival with goals from Joe Sheridan and Kenny but Vaughan kicked the deciding point.

The Dubs move into a Division 2 final against Westmeath, whom they beat in the O'Byrne Cup earlier in the season, but Monday's newspaper headlines will undoubtedly focus on the lack of discipline both sides showed in the opening quarter.

In neighbourly battles such as this, there is always the possibility that things can boil over with players, adrenaline coursing through their veins, determined to gain an early physical advantage.

That was the case this afternoon but a couple of hard and over-zealous challenges led to a free-for-all with every played involved bar Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton.

Referee Russell took a zero tolerance policy and in the counties' first league meeting in 14 years, four stunned players got their marching orders.

It was a frantic start and one which did little for either side's nerves.

The Dubs made one late change with St Vincent's star Diarmuid Connolly coming in at full-forward for Conal Keaney.

But Paul Caffrey's men were soon down to just 12 players as they had their sixth player sent off in this year's league campaign.

Whelan saw red for clashing with Kenny and worse followed when a disgruntled supporter aimed a hot cup of tea at the Dublin midfielder as he came off the pitch.

When the game finally settled, Dublin, despite their numerical disadvantage, made good inroads early on.

Brendan McMenamon opened the scoring for the hosts in the 11th minute and St Vincent's duo Mossie Quinn and Connolly added further points.

The Royals remained scoreless until the 27th minute when Joe Sheridan bisected the posts with a chipped effort.

Colm Coyle's men got back level when Cian Ward and Graham O'Reilly each kicked a point.

With Russell playing seven minutes of injury-time, making up for the early bout of fisticuffs, Dublin reclaimed the lead with Connolly and Quinn pointing before Stephen Bray made it a one-point game.

On the restart, the Leinster champions kept a stubborn hold of their lead. Former captain Collie Moran almost bagged a goal but his dipping effort just cleared Brendan Murphy's crossbar.

The Dubs went through a purple patch as points from Quinn (0-02f) and Bryan Cullen cancelled out an effort from play from Meath's Mark Ward.

Matters improved further for Caffrey's side as Quinn and Connolly added to their personal tallies and Jason Sherlock also chipped in with a point, leaving the Dubs 0-12 to 0-05 ahead.

Meath were clearly struggling to use their extra man and their defending was particularly poor during that spell.

They did get themselves back in contention when Bray set up Sheridan for a measured goal finish past Cluxton, with his shot bouncing in off the post.

By that point Meath had kicked eight wides in the second half but their radar was clearly working now as they scored their second goal in as many minutes.

Kenny lost his marker and raced through to ram home a 65th-minute goal, cutting the gap to just 0-12 to 2-05.

Meath levelled the tie two minutes later when Graham Geraghty broke the ball down for Peadar Byrne to point.

However, Dublin ensured their place in next season's Division 1, going up as table toppers, as Vaughan's first kick of the game crowned his side's fifth and most hard-earned win of the league run.