It says a lot about Dublin's dominance of Leinster that a six-point win for the Sky Blues is deemed a rare scare.
The Dubs were widely expected to swat aside their provincial rivals with ease as they bid for an 11th Leinster title on the bounce.
But Meath gave Dessie Farrell's charges a mini-scare at Croke Park this afternoon.
It looked set to be another cruise for Dublin at half-time when they took a 2-11 to 0-6 lead into the break in this Leinster semi-final, helped by goals from Cormac Costello and Con O'Callaghan.
However Meath came out fighting and a Matthew Costello goal sparked a run of 1-4 without reply as they reduced Dublin's lead down to three.
They led by that margin heading into added time but played keep-ball in added time and tacked on a few scores to advance to a Leinster final against Kildare with a six-point win.
Fans were heartened to see Meath make a game of it as Dublin recorded their narrowest winning margin since the 2012 Leinster final, with one tweeting: "I don’t have many other words at the moment, other than to say that was a fantastic match, congrats Dublin, and a great performance by Meath. #AnMhíAbú."
@MonaghanGAAFans tweeted: "Fair play to Meath for coming back into the game after looking completely down and out at half time. They deserve huge credit!! The Dubs look fairly relieved as the last point went over the bar."
Another commenter doubted Dublin's All-Ireland credentials after the game, saying: "Well done Meath. Dublin won’t win an All-Ireland if they keep playing like that."
"Dublin no longer look the force they were," was the thought of another viewer.
The Dubs remain the betting favourites to land Sam Maguire for the seventh year in-a-row, but some of the big guns still left in the competition will have taken heart from Meath's ability to challenge them.
