Capital conquest as once-great rivalry fails to ignite

SOONER or later someone is going to assemble a DVD of all the great Dublin-Meath games and, when they do, this particular reel will be one of the first to fall to the editing room floor.

Shame really because it boasted all the right ingredients. The magnificent Croke Park cathedral was almost full, the weather perked up and two warring tribes were topping the bill.

Eight yellow cards were handed out, a few fists even flew through the air, but the intensity and vibrancy that we have come to expect from any meeting between these two neighbours just wasn’t there.