Mathew Costello isn't inclined to fixate on debatable refereeing calls after Meath were denied a first Leinster title in 15 years against Louth last Sunday.
With the time played gone past 61 minutes, Costello buried a goal in the bottom left corner of the Hill 16 goal, nudging the Royals back in front as the game headed down the stretch.
The Meath crowd, subdued for most of the second half in which Louth had hogged possession for long periods, were back on their feet and charged up ahead of the finale.
However, the conquerors of Dublin would barely see the ball again for the rest of the match.
On the next play, Brian O'Halloran was penalised for a challenge on Conall McKeever, Sam Mulroy stroking over the resultant two-point free to edge the Wee County back in front at a vital stage.
It would prove the decisive score as Meath were unable to win primary possession or breaking ball, with Louth running down the clock and eventually working one more score very late on, with Ciaran Lennon tapping over.
The arrival of the hooter at 70 minutes has perhaps unwittingly encouraged possession football in the dying embers of games, with teams now more sure of how long they have to run down the clock than in the days when the decision on when a game was done was partly at the discretion of the referee.
"It was disappointing, really," Costello tells RTÉ Sport. "The momentum was up because of the goal and the crowd was up. But unfortunately we just just couldn't get the ball back off Louth.
"It's kind of a whole new thought process with the hooter. In years gone by, Louth would probably be trying to attack to get another score because they'd want to go two or three up and they might take it a few more chances.
"Whereas now, with the definitive end with the hooter, they can be a bit more relaxed on it because they know all they have to do is just keep it out of our hands.
"It's very difficult to take it off a team that are so good at keeping possession. But really the learnings are to recognise the opportunity that is there and realise that you only have around two minutes to get the ball back (in that scenario).
"Then it's just about good tackling and being able to strip the ball. It's no good to give a foul away in that situation."
Meath have re-taken the lead in the Leinster SFC final after Matthew Costello's goal
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Louth's monopolisation of possession in the closing stages was largely a consequence of their dominance of the middle third area in the second half and their hoovering up of the breaks.
However, whenever Meath tacklers did get on contact, referee Martin McNally was inclined to favour the ball carrier and award a free to Louth. The free awarded against O'Halloran in the play following Costello's goal was hotly disputed but the corner forward doesn't want to dwell on refereeing calls.
"We're not going to be in a position to give ourselves excuses about refereeing decisions. When I say we didn't have the rub of the green, I mean more in terms of breaking ball and things like that.
"If a ball broke a different way in our hand, we might have gone up to get a score and then press the kick out and it could have been a totally different end to the game."
Regardless of the outcome, this year's Leinster final captured the imagination of neutrals as well as the competing counties, after a decade in which it degenerated into a quasi-farcical procession for Dublin and the competition had been written off as dead in many quarters.
The 65,000 attendance on Sunday exceeded the combined crowd that attended the last two Leinster deciders and was easily more than double that showed up in 2024.
Costello, who has collected the Player of the Month award for April following stirring displays against Offaly and Dublin, is well acquainted with the feeling of fatalism that had taken hold, having played in the 16-point loss in Leinster last year - a standard margin of defeat for most of the last 12 years.
"You just have to to be realistic in that you were playing one of the best teams that there's ever been. You kind of just worried what you were at and what your goals were.
"So it has been nice this year. Obviously, in years gone by, there's been a lot of negative talk about the provincial championships and in particular the Leinster Championship.
"The game probably needed it. The game needed a spark to get the provincial championships going again. Because when they're so one-sided for so long, people do lose interest.
"To do it (beat Dublin) this year was brilliant. But we have to just park it and go again.
"The immediate future is the All-Ireland series but even looking ahead to the provincial championships in the next few years, you want them to be as competitive as possible.
"Because Sunday was just electric. And we want to have that again."
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