August 18th 1996 - what a day to be in Croke Park

Tyrone dangerman Peter Canavan is closed out by Meath's Mark O'Reilly and John McDermott during the 1996 All Ireland SFC semi final in Croke Park

It was on this day 20 years ago that underdogs Meath demolished favourites and Ulster Champions Tyrone in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final.

It was the day that Graham Geraghty showed why he was the best footballer in the country scoring 1-4 and earning the Man of the Match Award. John McDermott was immense in the middle of the park while Barry Callaghan and Brendan Reilly did serious damage up front. O'Reilly, O'Connell and Fay were outstanding in defence.

It was also the day that this Meath team were labelled 'dirty' by most outside the county. Manager Sean Boylan sprung to his team defence afterwards stressing that Meath did not deserve the 'hard men of Gaelic football' label and said it was high time that this team were given due credit.

Quit simply Meath were outstanding on the day and Tyrone had no answer to the Leinster champions.

Meath won with ease on the day 2-15 to 0-12 and went on to claim the All Ireland title a month later.

Meath scorers: Graham Geraghty 1-4, Barry Callaghan 1-3, Brendan Reilly 0-5, Trevor Giles 0-3

The team was: Conor Martin, Mark O'Reilly, Darren Fay, Martin O'Connell, Colm Coyle, Enda McManus, Paddy Reynolds, Jimmy McGuinness, John McDermott, Trevor Giles, Tommy Dowd, Graham Geraghty, Evan Kelly, Brendan Reilly, Barry Callaghan. Subs: Colm Brady and Jody Devine