by Darragh Maloney
Dublin and Meath will have to meet again after a pulsating draw at Croke Park today.
The match was billed as the first 'blockbuster' of the summer and it certainly lived up to expectations.
Meath were made to play catch-up for long periods but they dug deep several times during the 70 minutes and they deserved their draw. Dublin should have been able to put them away in the first half when they totally controlled the match and should have made more of their superiority.
Meath have unearthed a couple of new stars: goalkeeper Brendan Murphy made some outstanding saves while substitute Cian Ward kicked five frees in the final 20 minutes including the point that forced the replay.
Dublin ripped into Meath in the opening 18 minutes and raced into a 0-05 to 0-00 lead. Meath were totally outplayed in that period but they put over four unanswered points to trail by just one nine minutes from half-time.
Meath also had a goal disallowed after Graham Geraghty was deemed to have pushed full-back Ross McConnell just before he fielded the ball. It was a tight call and many referees would have given the goal but Jimmy McKee ruled it out.
That was a favourable break for Dublin and they appeared to get another when Alan Brogan punched a high ball into the Meath net on 35 minutes. That was another tight call as the Meath players felt that the Dublin forward was in the square.
That goal separated the sides at half-time but the Dublin lead had swelled to five 12 minutes into the second half and Meath were in trouble.
Dublin had gone two periods of 10 minutes without a score during the first half and they were held scoreless for the next 18 minutes as Meath ate into their lead.
Cian Ward was introduced and he fired over three frees and there were points from Stephen Bray and Joe Sheridan as Meath drew level for the first time with eight minutes remaining.
The tension was something else as both Dublin and Meath fought for every ball as if their lives depended on it. Dublin went a point up in the 65th minute and Ward levelled it up again and he was there deep in stoppage time to equalise again after Colin Moran had put Dublin clear.
It was the game of the summer so far as the two teams brought back memories of their great saga of 1991 when it took three replays to separate them. It was thrilling stuff.
Roll on Sunday week when they have to do it all again!
