Reilly says Dublin now 'like a runaway juggernaut.'

Brendan Reilly -  who scored the winning point for Meath in the 1996 All-Ireland SFC final - fears Dublin will have too much in their armoury for the Royals in Sunday's Leinster final. 

'The head tells me no and the heart says it would be great to beat them but Dublin seem to be a level above everyone else at the moment with their fitness and ability to take scores,' he said.

'They seem to be like a runaway juggernaut at the moment. They have players who can come in and change a game which is a huge luxury to have.'

Reilly, who now lives in Kilbride but played his club football with Dunboyne, was impressed with the way Mick O'Dowd's team pushed aside the challenge of Kildare in the previous round.

Now, however, the Royals must move up another level or two if they have any cahnce of denting Dublin's dominance in Leinster.

Despite all the positives Meath displayed in the win over the Lilywhites Reilly was concenred at the way they faded in the closing stages.

'Meath got some early ball into the forwards but for the last 20 minutes or so they seemed to misfire and that would worry me for Sunday.

'If Dublin tire they can just bring on new faces and they will be running as hard with five minutes to go as they will be just five minutes into the game.'

Reilly says this Meath team will need to show the kind of steel and tenacity that helped the Royals defeat Mayo in the 1996 All-Ireland final replay.

Mayo looked destined to win the drawn game particularly but Meath just wouldn't concede and they eventually claimed the Sam Maguire with Reilly's last-gasp point clinching victory in the replay.

Now Meath will have to do something similiar on Sunday.

'They will have to grind on, stay with them until the last 10 or 15 minutes and hopefully put some doubt in the minds of the Dublin players. 

'If they do that then maybe Dublin will start asking questions of themselves.' 

Jimmy Geoghegan.