Ratoath 0-11 Rhode 0-9
Five unanswered points midway through the second-half proved the difference as Ratoath scored a rare win for Meath teams in the AIB Leinster club SFC to book their semi-final place.
David Brady's side had to dig deep and it was a particularly tense finale as the former Mayo midfielder exchanged heated words with a number of Rhode players, even receiving a shove at one stage from Rhode's Anton Sullivan.
Brady's side ultimately held out and will face The Downs in the provincial semi-finals at Croke Park on Saturday, 19 November.
Daithi McGowan was Ratoath's chief scorer again with 0-03 though it was a gutsy win for the collective with eight different scorers.
The game hung in the balance until Ratoath pulled decisively clear with those five points from McGowan, Jack Flynn, Cian O'Brien and Cian Rogers.
Veteran Niall McNamee scored seven points for Rhode, though all of those came from frees and the Offaly men conjured just two points from play throughout the hour.
Ratoath, previously Leinster junior and intermediate champions, entered the contest as favourites despite never having won a senior game outside of the county.
The Royal County's record generally didn't augur well either with just 13 wins by Meath teams in 33 outings since Dunshaughlin won the 2002 Leinster title.
The recent record of Meath teams in Leinster is particularly poor with just three wins by their representatives in the last 13 seasons, prior to today.
Ultra-experienced Rhode claimed a 31st Offaly title back in September and approached this contest confident of pulling off an away win.
They edged a cagey first-half and hit the interval with a 0-05 to 0-04 lead, McNamee nudging them ahead with his fourth point from a free with the last kick of the half.
McNamee won that free himself when he was fouled by Ratoath and Meath full-back Conor McGill.
The McNamee-McGill duel was one of the game's intriguing head to heads with Ratoath also assigning Ben Wyer man-marking duties on recent Tailteann Cup All-Star Sullivan.
All but one of Rhode's first-half points came from McNamee frees, his cousin Conor floating over the other one from distance.
Ratoath stationed county attacker Eamon Wallace at centre-back again and, after striking 0-03 in the Meath decider, he was threatening again going forward again with 0-02.
Wallace's first point came in the 19th minute and tied up the scores at 0-04 apiece, the third time they'd been level in a tense half that included the 10th minute black carding of Rhode forward Paraic Sullivan.
Aaron Kellaghan stretched Rhode's lead with a fine point from distance after the restart and the visitors twice opened up two-point leads though Ratoath edged the third quarter to regain the advantage.
Three Ratoath points in a row from Daithi McGowan (0-2), and Jack Flynn left them in the ascendancy and Cian O'Brien's 46th minute score put Ratoath two clear for the first time, 0-09 to 0-07.
Wallace's 46th minute black card could have been a set-back but Ratoath handled it well and did enough to maintain a two-point advantage at full-time.
Those five points in a row between the 36th and 50th minutes ultimately proved decisive for Ratoath in a low scoring battle.
Ratoath: Darragh McPartlin; Ciaran O Fearraigh, Ben Wyer, Conor McGill; Gavin McGowan, Eamon Wallace (0-02), Brian Daly; Ben McGowan, Jack Flynn (0-01, 0-01f); Keith McCabe (0-01), Daithi McGowan (0-03, 0-02f), Cian Rogers (0-01, 0-01m); Cian O'Brien (0-01), Bobby O'Brien (0-01), Bryan McMahon (0-01, 0-01m).
Subs: Padraic Byrne for McCabe 54, Andrew Gerrard for Daly 57, Conor Rooney for O'Brien 61.
Rhode: Kenneth Garry; James McPadden, Jake Kavanagh, Brian Darby; Keith Murphy, Conor McNamee (0-01), Gareth McNamee; Alan McNamee, Dylan Kavanagh; Paraic Sullivan, Aaron Kellaghan (0-01), Ciaran Heavey; Niall McNamee (0-07, 0-07f), Anton Sullivan, Ruairi McNamee.
Subs: Stephen Hannon for Paraic Sullivan h/t, Darren Garry for Heavey 39, Paul McPadden for Gareth McNamee 48, Shane Sullivan for Alan McNamee 61.
Referee: Seamus Mulhare (Laois)
