By Marty Morrissey
Since the foundation of the GAA in 1884 Galway and Meath have only met five times in the Championship, with Galway holding the numerical advantage in terms of victories with four.
However, Meath narrowed that particular statistical gap with an impressive performance in O'Moore Park, Portlaoise this afternoon.
In contrast to the excitement of the previous qualifier between Cork and Louth, this started off slowly to the point of dullness but that feeling quickly changed as scores were exchanged on a regular basis.
Four times the teams were level in the first half but by half-time Meath had a two-goal advantage, 2-06 to 0-06. The green flags were raised by Stephen Bray, who later received the RTÉ Man-of-the-Match award for an awesome display of shooting and goal-taking.
Only four minutes separated the goals. The first arrived after 23 minutes when a long ball saw Bray inside the Galway cover and despite the best efforts of corner-back Damien Burke he tucked it beautifully inside the post away from the outreached hands of the diving Paul Doherty.
The second resulted from sharp incisive thinking, as a quick free again saw Bray in the right position, hold off a sturdy challenge and again rifle home from close range.
Galway were rattled and immediately dispatched Declan Meehan to replace Damien Burke to keep an eye on Bray.
Galway looked off form and points by Matthew Clancy and Nicky Joyce gave them a lifeline, but deep in injury-time the Royals struck again with two fine points by Mark Ward and a sublime effort by captain Anthony Moyles to guarantee them a six-point advantage at the break.
As anticipated, Galway rallied after the break and Michael Meehan was inspiring as he flung over points from play and from frees with Nicky Joyce also contributing to reduce Meath's lead to three points. Game on.
Meath's response was swift. Meath manager Colm Coyle introduced Graham Geraghty and immediately the Meath supporters and players reacted by lifting their game and vocal support substantially.
The game reached a turning point 14 minutes into the second half when referee Maurice Deegan awarded Galway a penalty for a foul on Michael Meehan.
It was a 'soft' penalty and personally I didn't think it was a penalty at all. Michael Meehan hit it himself and struck it powerfully to the back of the Meath net.
Six minutes later, the teams were level for the fifth time after points by Sean Armstrong and Meehan, who ended the game with a personal tally of 1-05, made it 2-09 to 1-12.
It was then that Brian Farrell and Graham Geraghty stood up to the mark as Meath showed just a fraction of their manager's self-belief and character.
With Mark Ward and Nigel Crawford dominating centrefield, Meath surged forward always believing (obviously) that they had the talent and conviction to achieve victory.
Meath finished the stronger, with Farrell again displaying great coolness under pressure and substitute Charlie McCarthy adding to Galway's woes with a nice point in injury-time. Meath ended the game with a three-point advantage and deserved fully their win.
Goalkeeper Brendan Murphy was once again rock solid and his save just after half-time from Sean Armstrong was invaluable.
Bray and Farrell, meanwhile, showed what a double act they have the potential to become.
