On this day 25 years ago Meath and Dublin locked horns for the fourth and final time in a marathon Leinster SFC saga that gripped the attention of the gaelic football world and beyond...

The fourth game was fixed for Saturday July 6th with live coverage of RTE hysteria gripping the Royal County as the game between the sides virtually the only topic of conversation.  

Would McEntee start? Is McCabe on the panel? Is Kelly injured? McEntee and McCabe were both included in the substitutes with PJ Gillic returning to midfield.  

Disaster struck long before the ball was thrown in. Firstly, Sean Kelly failed a late fitness test and then a freak accident in the dressing rooms resulted in Terry Ferguson having to withdraw because of a pulled muscle in his back.  

Tommy Dowd and Padraig Lyons were the late replacements but incredibly, Lyons sustained an injury after only fourteen minutes.  

Finian Murtagh was sprung from the bench with Colm Coyle going back to defence.  

Meath  had started brightly with Brian Stafford scoring two points, the second after Colm O'Rourke was felled with a head-high tackle in the fifth minute.  

But by half time Dublin had edged in front by 0-7 to 0-5 and were playing the more purposeful football.  

With only fifteen minutes remaining the boys in blue had stretched their lead to six points, the biggest gap between the teams in any of the four games.  

A goal from Brian Stafford kept Meath's hopes alive, if only just, but with eight minutes remaining Dublin, ahead by 0-14 to 1-8, were awarded a penalty which Keith Barr drove wide of McQuillan's right hand post.   

But Dublin, even without their most influential player, Tommy Carr who had been forced to retire with a leg injury, still looked certain to win when Niall Guiden increased their lead to four points with seven minutes remaining.  

Four minutes remained to play when Stafford reduced the gap to just three points and that was still the difference when Martin O'Connell chased a loose ball towards the corner flag.  

Nine Meath players handled the ball in eleven passes before John O'Leary took the ball out of the back of his net.

Kevin Foley wrote his name into Meath GAA folklore when tapping home from close distance while David Beggy sent over the point that decided this epic contest seconds later.

The Meath team was Michael McQuillan, Robbie O'Malley, Mick Lyons, Padraig Lyons, Kevin Foley (1-0), Liam Harnan, Martin O'Connell, Liam Hayes, PJ Gillic, David Beggy (0-1), Colm O'Rourke, Tommy Dowd, Colm Coyle, Brian Stafford (1-6, 0-5fs, 0-1 45), Bernard Flynn (0-2).  Subs: Finian Murtagh for Padraig Lyons, Gerry McEntee for Murtagh, Mattie McCabe (0-1) for Flynn.

The Dublin team was John O'Leary, Mick Deegan, Ger Hargan, Mick Kennedy, Tommy Carr, Keith Barr, Eamon Heery, Jack Sheedy, Paul Bealin, Charlie Redmond (0-5, 3fs), Paul Curran (0-2), Niall Guiden (0-4), Declan Sheehan (0-2), Paul Clarke, Mick Galvin. Subs: Ray Holland for Carr, Joe McNally for Clarke, Vinny Murphy for Redmond.

Youtube credit: Classic GAA Channel

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