Mick O'Dowd was at a loss to explain Meath's collapse in the Leinster SFC final.

Reflecting on his side's drubbing by Dublin, the crestfallen manager said: "Some fellas didn't seem to have the same energy that they had against Kildare. Perhaps that's a nervousness, although I didn't sense that before the game.

"But when you're coming up against a team where everyone is comfortable at playing at that intensity, if one, two or three of them on our side are not, then it can be a domino effect at times.

"They're well ahead of us as you've seen there. How much further ahead of other teams is hard to gauge."

He continued: "We were expecting one of Dublin's best displays of the summer, which I think they gave, but we were bitterly disappointed with the performance we gave because I don't think it reflected us properly.

"But look, there's a gap in terms of that physicality and intensity that you have to be comfortable playing at, as a unit. I think some Meath players gave outstanding displays but as a collective, Dublin had a higher standard."

The Skyrne man, whose side must regroup for a difficult All-Ireland qualifier against Armagh on Saturday week, refused to blame Meath's defeat on Stephen Bray's controversial disallowed goal in the 25th minute.

"You obviously wouldn't say it was the difference, because it wasn't. But at that moment in the game, if we wanted to withstand the onslaught that would come, it would have been reduced to three points . . ." Tweet

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