Donal Curtis after his last gasp miss

There was plenty of niggle early on with Meath's Mark O'Reilly, John Cullinane, Nigel Nestor and Donegal's John Gildea all booked while a number of off the ball challenges also went unpunished.

Donegal, with Devenney converting three frees, looked the better side early on but a couple of Graham Geraghty efforts from play kept Meath in touch.

The northerners did finally convert their superiority into a crucial score four minutes from half-time when Devenney pounced after a mix-up in the Meath defence to set up youngster Christy Toye for a goal.

Toye's emphatic finish to the roof of the net helped Donegal to a 1-7 to 0-6 interval lead.

Donegal bossed the third quarter and went five points clear when the impressive Jim McGuinness slotted over a fine effort from play in the 47th minute.

Meath looked a beaten team at that stage but inevitably the Royals summoned up a big effort in the final quarter to leave Donegal hanging on at the finish.

The Meath revival was started by two points in as many minutes by the hitherto quiet Richie Keely.

That reduced Donegal's advantage to three points.

Brendan Devenney: Hit five points

John Cullinane cut Donegal's lead to the minimum in the 62nd minute and at that stage, Meath appeared to have the momentum.

But crucially Brian Roper scored a fine point almost immediately for Donegal after excellent work by the impressive Sweeney brothers Raymond and Adrian.

Donal Curtis left the minimum between the sides with four minutes remaining but Donegal then managed to keep possession for a couple of crucial minutes.

Devenney missed a chance to edge Donegal two clear again but Meath goalkeeper Cormac Sullivan's botched kick-out enabled Michael Hegarty to fist another Donegal point.

Right at the death, Curtis beat Donegal goalkeeper Tony Blake to Murphy's long ball but the flicked efforted drifted inches wide.

Meanwhile, 11 points from Colin Corkery helped Cork hammer Tipperary 1-23 to 0-7 in Sunday's Munster Football Final replay.

Cork led 0-12 to 0-3 at half-time and Philip Clifford hit Cork's goal in the third quarter.

Donegal: T Blake; S Carr, E Doherty, N McGinley, R Sweeney, B Monaghan, K Cassidy, J Gildea, J McGuinness (0-1), C Toye (1-1), M Hegarty (0-1), B Roper (0-1), A Sweeney (0-4), B Devenney (0-5), P McGonigle. Subs: D Diver

Meath: C Sullivan; M O'Reilly, D Fay, C Murphy; P Shankey, N Nestor (0-1), P Reynolds; N Crawford (0-2), J Cullinane (0-1); E Kelly, T Giles (0-2), R Kealy (0-2); O Murphy (0-2), G Geraghty (0-2), A Kenny (0-1). Subs: D Curtis (0-1), S Kenny.

Munster SFC final replay:
Cork 1-23 0-7 Tipperary
Ulster U21 Hurling final:
Antrim 2-13 0-6 Down