Where might this Royal refresh go from here?
REFRESH: Meath players including Ruairà Kinsella, 11, celebrate as the final whistle is blown. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
In attempting to sum up this landmark Leinster SFC semi-final win for Meath, manager Robbie Brennan pretty much nailed it with his assessment of both teams.
"The reality is it's not the same Dublin," said Brennan, acknowledging that while this was a win for the ages, breathing fresh life into the Leinster SFC, it wasn't the six-in-a-row Dubs team that they beat.
But, as he also noted, "It's not the same Meath team either."
That's the really exciting bit for Meath fans, and particularly those long-suffering ones who were among the 10,126 in Portlaoise for this historic game - where might a new look Meath full of promising talents be capable of going from here?
Most Meath supporters, in truth, had been beaten into submission after 15 years of Dublin dominance since they last got the better of the blues, way back in 2010. Suddenly, the footballing world seems like their oyster again.
Dublin's task will be to rebuild in the All-Ireland series, minus the generational talents of Fenton, McCaffrey, Mannion, McCarthy and Fitzsimons who retired after last season. Clearly, they are all badly missed.
Meath will return to Croke Park on May 11 to play Louth, another old enemy, in the Leinster final.
They will hope for a similar tour de force from Eoghan Frayne, their captain. He fired 11 points and did just about everything you could hope a captain would. James Conlon came of age in a Meath jersey too, firing five points from play while Mathew Costello showed all his quality again.
The Meath defence was also superb, even if Dublin reeled off 1-5 without response in the closing minutes to turn a 12-point half-time deficit into a two-point game.
At that stage it was simply chaos with all shape and structure gone from the game as Dublin threw the kitchen sink at it. Dublin made too many mistakes though and lacked composure at vital times.
They were injury hit to be fair. Boss Dessie Farrell noted that Eoin Murchan, Lee Gannon, Cian Murphy, Luke Breathnach and Sean MacMahon were all unavailable. So they have room for improvement. But their retirees are gone for good and this loss was the net result of all that talent drain.
"We felt we could win, we absolutely felt we could," said Brennan. "The fact that it's out of Croke Park and all those things certainly played into our favour. We had a real belief that we could go and do it.
"All week, we just kept saying that we have to stay in the fight. If someone goes past you, you've got to stay in the fight, stay in the game and keep hunting and keep looking for work.
"We'll watch the game back and I'm sure there are loads of learnings in it but overall I thought the lads did just what we asked and I couldn't be happier for them. It's their time. They have been waiting to produce a performance like that and in fairness to them they took their chance."
Meath may even be underdogs for the Leinster final against a Louth side that beat them twice in the last 12 months.
The bigger picture is that the Leinster championship is finally back. Dublin have strolled to provincial successes for the guts of 20 years now but when the 2026 season rolls around, Meath, Louth, Dublin and perhaps even Kildare and Westmeath will feel they have a genuine shot at the title.
The new rules contributed hugely to this landmark result as, for starters, Meath hit four two-pointers to Dublin's two.
Even more significant was the pressure that Meath were able to put on Stephen Cluxton's long kick-outs in the first-half.
The Dublin 'keeper struggled badly to hit his team-mates and, allied to the amount of turnovers Dublin were forced into around the pitch, it was akin to a Royal procession at times.
Frayne, the influential Keith Curtis and Bryan Menton all sniped two-pointers as Meath hit the break with a 0-17 to 0-5 lead.
Sure, the wind was strong but Meath were rampant too and Dublin looked a pale shadow of the side that beat Mayo, Kerry, Derry and Galway in the league.
The neutral venue did little for Dublin either with the Leinster Council taking both semi-finals out of Croker for the first time since 1995.
The big question was how much was the wind going to be worth to Dublin in the second-half?
Not enough was the answer. Paddy Small did step up and he led an improved attack but Dublin also kicked four two-point attempts wide while Cormac Costello had a shot at goal saved by Billy Hogan. Seamus Lavin also cleared a Lorcan O'Dell goal attempt off the line in the first-half.
Still, when Dublin reeled off that 1-5 to cut the deficit to two, it seemed like a comeback win was inevitable. They couldn't pull it off though as Meath rallied with late insurance scores from Aaron Lynch and Frayne.
E Frayne 0-11 (5 frees, 1tpf, 1tp); J Conlon 0-5; K Curtis 0-3 (1tp); B Menton 0-2 (tp), M Costello, A Lynch 0-1 each.
C O'Callaghan 0-6 (2 frees, 1 tp); P Small 0-5; C Costello 1-1 (0-1 free); C Basquel 0-3 (1tp); L O'Dell 0-1.
B Hogan; B O'Halloran, S Raffety, S Lavin; D Keogan, S Coffey, C Caulfield; M Costello, B Menton; C Duke, R Kinsella, A O'Neill; J Conlon, K Curtis, E Frayne.
A Lynch for Curtis 50, S Walsh for Kinsella 54, R Jones for Duke 55, C Hickey for O'Neill 58, Ronan Ryan for Rafferty 61.
S Cluxton; T Clancy, D Byrne, C Tyrrell; B Howard, J Small, T Lahiff; P O Cofaigh Byrne, C Kilkenny; N Scully, C O'Callaghan, K Lahiff; P Small, L O'Dell, C Basquel.
A Gavin for Tyrrell 29, C Costello for K Lahiff h/t, K McGinnis for Scully 52, R McGarry for O'Dell 58, G McEneaney for J Small 59.
Ref: K Eannetta (Tyrone).
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