See, Stephen Bray has been at this party before. You don't remember it because nobody talked to him when he showed up in 2005. He spent his time sitting alone in the corner, looking up at the popular people before making an early exit. When he was gone, still nobody noticed. This time though, he's in demand. He's shown up with a new outfit and a new attitude. There's no sneaking off on this occasion. At 25, it's about time too.

His Meath career actually started way back in 2000. He had only finished his Leaving, winning a Hogan Cup with St Pat's, and when he was asked what he could do for his county, he smiled, presuming it was someone having a laugh. A few weeks later he was sitting alongside Trevor Giles, Graham Geraghty and Darren Fay. There was John McDermott too, who he saw wandering across a car park one night in Navan. Meath were set to play Cavan in a challenge match, but at the time even such insignificant games made Bray nervous. As McDermott approached him, he bent down, picked up a penny, flicked it at the Navan O'Mahony's forward and called out, "Here young fella, that's for luck". He's shy now, but back then he barely uttered an audible word.

Soon he was gone again though. The following season he was playing for the under21s in the All Ireland semifinal against Mayo. Having gone up for a high ball, he came down hard on his hands and heard his wrist crack. It ended his season and made sure he played no part in 2003 or 2004 either. "When I was with St Pat's we won an All Ireland and then the following year I won a Leinster under-21 title and things were rolling. I was thrilled, and then when I broke my wrist everything went downhill and I found it very hard to get back into the set-up. It was frustrating, but in the long run it did me good.

You can get too much, too soon, too easy and that was happening to me. But I wonder whether I should have been on the senior panel as far back as 2000 because I was nowhere near the level of an intercounty player. So I went away and worked harder and it was only right I was involved in 2005 because then, I was physically a different player. I was able for it and I decided it was time to stand up and be counted. There was no point in me being there, looking over my shoulder at all the brilliant players. It took me time to turn around and say, 'Hey, I am good enough, I deserve to be here'."

He struggled on Paul Griffin in that year's Leinster quarterfinal . . . which Dublin won by two points . . . and was there in the qualifiers the night Cavan put an end to the Sean Boylan era. That they lost while housing a core of the players that made the breakthrough this summer has left many asking did Boylan hang around too long. Bray, though, chooses the other extreme. "I've heard that said alright but he was the one that brought the likes of myself and Brian Farrell and Caomhin King onto the panel.

He was in the midst of building yet another great team and we weren't going to be hits overnight. Had he gone for another year, who knows? He could have ended up staying for another few years and we would have given him everything because he gave me my chance and others as well."

He would have given Boylan everything. He gave Eamonn Barry nothing. At the start of 2006 he got Achilles tendonitis. Every time he ran, his shin would swell. Every time he trained, he was left in agony.

Eventually he had to drop out of the panel. It was trial and error as regards treatment and by the time there were no more errors, there were only two weeks to go to the county's last stand against Laois. Another summer over.

But enough of the past. Meath are about the present.

"I can't say we aimed to be here in an All Ireland semifinal but we never had any major goals. When Colm [Coyle] came in we took a different approach. We set out to do the simple things, be it hard work, right mentality, neversay-die attitude. We worked on those simple things rather than huge goals because we concluded that if we got these simple things right we'd achieve the bigger goals and that was how we started out the year. We've kept that in mind, and from the time we went to Portugal, we had a feeling things could go well.

Like, that trip was five days and it wasn't so much about training, more to do with bonding. Everyone ended up getting on so well. Like, there were times when we were coming back from the beach and others were hiding behind walls and they jumped out and threw us into the pool . . . gear, bags, everything. It meant when we went out to play Kildare we were a real team and we had been underestimated big time because of Division Two and we knew that."

He announced himself as a player of intercounty quality that day, swinging over four majestic points. Against Dublin he took it to a new level kicking three points in the drawn game and another four in the replay. To lose such a battle was devastating, but Coyle told them after that it was proof they were good enough. He said Dublin were on everybody's lips when it came to All Ireland contenders and had Meath more experience, they would not only have been the better team, they would have been victorious. He refused to let them feel down and made each player turn to the guy beside him and promise he'd give it everything come the qualifiers. Graham Geraghty made that promise as well.

"To lose him was tough because we were ready. When I saw this in training I just thought, 'Oh no'. I knew it was going to be blown way out of proportion. He's been such a brilliant footballer and it was going to be a story that would sell. Like, Colm would have known from his time under Sean what could happen in Meath sessions in the past and it was a lot worse than this incident. But strangely that galvanised everyone. We went away thinking that should Graham come back, he's going to have an even greater appetite for it. And I said to Brian [Farrell] and Shane [O'Rourke] as younger players we all had to step up.

We kept saying to ourselves he was going to eventually retire anyway and we'd have to be the next generation. It was sooner than anyone thought, but we said we'd up our game."

Had Coyle been planning for the future he would have taken pleasure in the wins over Down and Fermanagh, games in which Bray brought his championship total to 0-14.

But he realised there was an All Ireland there and brought Geraghty back for the Galway last-12 match. With his mother's family there to cheer on the opposition, Bray stole the headlines, hitting a brilliant 2-2. In the dressing room after that game a bunch of kids gained access with pens and paper. Bray's autograph was sought more than anyone else.

"I hate taking the credit because a lot has to do with the ball coming in. It was the same with Ryan McMenamin when we played Tyrone. I've heard it said I took him apart but there was nothing he could do. I had great ball and when that comes in it's my job to kick points and try and get goals so all I have been doing is my job. But it isn't about me either. We won that game and we were very pleased with ourselves. Our defence was magnificent. The other guys in the forwards were magnificent and, all in all, maybe we announced ourselves because as much as we had shown we were a good team and could compete with the best, like we did against Dublin, we hadn't beaten the best until that moment. And to be here now is a dream and there are times when I can't believe it."

Just for the record, he never kept that penny McDermott gave him. From the time Paddy O'Brien told him to use his weak foot for O'Mahony's as a nine-year-old he was always going to be good enough. He didn't need luck.

He just needed a bit of time.

MEATH TO JUSTIFY EXPECTATIONS. . . BARELY ALL IRELAND SFC SEMI-FINAL CORK v MEATH Croke Park, 3.30 Referee Broan Crowe (Cavan) Live, RTE Two, 1.30

People of Meath, be afraid. Be very afraid. Too many of the county's followers have been talking as if they're already in an All Ireland final and that was echoed by the massive turn-out at training in Navan on Thursday.

But think back to just last month.

Who would you have tipped to win a game between these two?

It was then that Cork were robbed in the Munster final and Meath were saved by a post against Fermanagh. A lot has changed since but not enough to totally write off Billy Morgan's side. James Masters is a huge loss but it's not meltdown. The rest of the forward line . . . we're looking at Michael Cussen who's been poor since the Munster final and Kevin McMahon who's been poor since the league . . . might pitch in and Daniel Goulding might make the most of his day in the sun having been finally afforded a start under a manager who has it in for flair forwards (remember how long it took Masters to get a game under Morgan). He's a player in the mould of Phillip Clifford in 1999.

That season Clifford won Young Player of the Year. Goulding has that talent and a better head.

Meath, meanwhile, have the potential to kick scores all over but haven't faced a defence like this. Stephen Bray is going to win an All Star for his displays but while he took Ryan McMenamin apart, he was much more reserved when Conor Gormley picked him up. Cork will have noted that and it's why Graham Canty is likely to track Bray. That will leave Michael Shields to pick up Shane O'Rourke and Kieran O'Connor to take Brian Farrell.

And then to midfield. Tyrone won 21 out of the 26 second-half kick-outs against Meath and Cork will target similar figures. Which way Derek Kavanagh and Nicholas Murphy pick up Mark Ward and Nigel Nestor will be dictated by the Meath pair but they may have to resort to the tactics used against Sean Cavanagh. Three players picked up yellow cards for fouls and the referee will have to keep an eye.

Now you see it's going to be close, here's why Meath will win.

They realised they were a good team against Dublin and it's why Graham Geraghty is in the side.

Colm Coyle could have left him off the panel for good and looked to the future. But he believes this year Meath can win an All Ireland. After today's close call, they should be one game away.

Verdict Meath, just.

Cork A Quirke; M Shields, G Canty, K O'Connor; N O'Leary, G Spillane, A Lynch; D Kavanagh, N Murphy; J Miskella, P O'Neill, K McMahon; D Goulding, M Cussen, D O'Connor MEATH (Probable) B Murphy; C McGuinness, D Fay, N McKeigue; C O'Connor, K Reilly, C King; M Ward, N Crawford; G Geraghty, A Moyles, P Byrne; S Bray, S O'Rourke, B Farrell