Despite conceding 1-1 in the opening 75 seconds, Martin Curran's charges stuck to their task and after being under the cosh for most of the opening half only conceded a further three points in the opening thirty minutes to go in at the break 1-3 to 1-4 in arrears.

The Royal County side trailed by the same margin (1-5 to 1-6) entering the final ten minutes but after Paul Tobin tied the scores for the fourth time they finished in a high gear with four unanswered points to earn a merited prize.

Meath were under pressure in defence for most of the hour and wisely withdrew full-back Eamonn Clancy, who won his fair share of possession but was struggling for pace on warm afternoon, at this juncture.

In the subsequent reshuffle corner-forward Robert Flanagan reverted to the opposite end of the field with Brendan Flynn moving to full-back and substitute Barry Higgins joining the attack. Flynn kept tabs on the roving Jerome McCrickard as the Mourne men tried vainly to save the game.

Meath, who led briefly after Tobin goaled in the 22nd minute, finished with two further points from the St Pat's clubman (one from a free) plus scores from Stephen Moran and impressive midfielder David Geraghty.

A larger than expected crowd turned up at the well-manicured west Monaghan venue on an ideal windless afternoon and it was the Ulster champions bidding for their first national title at this level in 40 years who were fastest out of the traps.

Fielding a side drawn mainly from the non-traditional hurling areas of south Down they hit the front when midfielder John Murphy landed a long distance free inside thirty seconds and followed it up with a goal from Jonathan McCusker.

Tobin hit the side netting in Meath's first meaningful attack and the same player erased his side's blank off the board with a well judged long range free from out on the left in seventh minute. The former Dublin hurler missed a simpler free before David Kirby profited from good work by team captain David Troy to fire over Meath's second score.

Tobin's goal resulted from a long delivery from Mark Scanlon and the big full-forward was ideally positioned to flick the sliotar to the net from the edge of the square to put Meath 1-3 to 1-2 ahead.

Curiously he drifted outfield constantly when he might have been better advised staying closer to goal. Meath had a bid let-off when a Daniel McCusker free from close to his own '45' hopped narrowly wide with goalkeeper Trevor Donohoe scramling helplessly.

The O'Mahony's player was one of Meath's top performers with a string of top-drawer saves while a judicious puck-out found Moran for the lead score with five minutes remaining. The Dunboyne lad was anonymous in the opening half and even a switch with Kirby didn't reap much benefit but he came good in the latter stages capping his efforts with a brace of points.

Despite missing ten minutes with a blood injury early in the second-half Troy played a captain's part at centre-back while J.P. Ryan emerged with credit after a fine second-half.

The Down defence, where corner-back Fintan Murray caught the eye, had their opponents on a tight leash until the latter stages and despite the promptings of pacy corner-forward Aidan Brown they managed just two second-half scores as their bid for a second title at this level floundered.

Meath - T. Donohoe; S. Duignan, E. Clancy, B. Flynn; C. Doyle, D. Troy, J.P. Ryan; P. Donnelly, D. Geraghty (0-2); M. Scanlon, J. Melia, S. Moran (0-2); D. Kirby (0-2), P. Tobin (1-4), R. Flanagan. Sub - B. Higgins for Clancy.

Down - G. McMullan; A. McGuinness, B. McAleenan, F. Murray; J. Brown, D. McCusker, P. McCusker; J. Murphy (0-1), T. Jennings; T. McMahon (0-1), K. Courtney, D. McGovern; J. McCusker (1-0), J. McCrickard (0-4), A. Brown. Subs - J. McGrath for McGovern, N. Burns for Courtney.

Referee – G Devlin (Armagh)