Joe Sheridan scrambled home a sensational winning goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time to give Meath a first Leinster SFC title since 2001, defeating Louth 1-12 to 1-10.
JP Rooney scored a 63rd minute Louth goal, and the Wee County appeared to be on their way to a first title since 1957, when Sheridan struck.
Referee Martin Sludden was attacked as he left the field accompanied by Gardai.
In front of a crowd of 48,875 at Croke Park, Peter Fitzpatrick’s men took control of the game in the second half, and were just seconds from glory when a goalmouth scramble ended with Sheridan’s goal being given after the ref had consulted with an umpire.
Louth missed two glorious goal chances in a first half that took its cue for long spells from the edge given to Meath in midfield by Brian Meade and Nigel Crawford.
The first fell to JP Rooney in the opening minute, when he almost caught the Royal defence cold, but drilled his shot just wide.
And on 20 minutes, Shane Lennon was sent in by Colm Judge, but from a tight angle, rolled his effort away at the far post.
In between, Meath enjoyed a productive spell late in the fist quarter, when they reeled off four points, through Graham Reilly, Stephen Bray (2) and Cian Ward.
Rooney and Paddy Keenan had earlier struck Louth points, and they rediscovered the range when Brian White drilled over a couple of frees to bring the sides level on 19 minutes.
But Meath clicked into another gear, hitting four of the last five points of the half.
Reilly was on fire, bringing his tally to four, and Crawford also powered through the middle for a point.
Meath led by 0-8 to 0-5 at half-time, but Louth dominated th early stages of the second half, closing the gap with two White efforts, one of them stroked over on the end of an excellent move.
Keenan and White were now getting more out of the midfield battle, and the attack profited, with Judge splitting the posts for a 43rd-minute leveller.
A sublime sidestep and finish from Adrian Reed had the Wee County ahead soon afterwards, but Meath responded with scores from Ward and Anthony Moyles.
But Louth went ahead in the 63rd minute when Mark Brennan sent in a telling delivery which Brian Meade failed to hold, and Rooney nipped in to gather and blast a superb finish past Brendan Murphy.
Meath clawed their way back, and Ward converted a couple of long-range frees. It appeared to be all over for the Royals, however, until that dramatic finish.
Meath: B Murphy, C O’Connor, K Reilly, E Harrington, G O’Brien, A Moyles (0-1), C King, B Meade, N Crawford (0-1), S Kenny, J Sheridan (1-0), G Reilly (0-4), C Ward (0-4, 4f), S O’Rourke, S Bray (0-2).
Subs: C McGuinness for Moyles, P Byrne for O’Rourke
Louth: N Gallagher, E McAuley, D Finnegan, R Greene, R Finnegan, M Fanning, J O’Brien, P Keenan (0-1), B White (0-4, 3f), A McDonnell (0-1), M Brennan, A Reed (0-1), C Judge (0-2, 1f), S Lennon, JP Rooney (1-1).
Subs: S Fitzpatrick for Greene, A Hoey for Fanning, P Smith for Lennon, D Byrne for Reed
Referee: M Sludden (Dromore).
