Louth ended 49 years of championship heartache against Meath at Grattan Park in Inniskeen with a sweet All-Ireland SFC round-robin success.
Wing-back Craig Lennon, who only leaves a few miles away from the novel venue, wiped all the anguish away almost instantaneously with a first-half brace after Sam Mulroy slammed Louth into the lead they would never give up.
The ten-point winning margin did not flatter the Leinster finalists as they eased over the line in a composed second-half showing. Meath looked well out of ideas at that stage.
The hosts, superbly facilitated by Monaghan club Inniskeen Grattans, will now have the task of taking down Monaghan in Clones next weekend.
Surprisingly Louth were much the nervier side in the opening stages.
They adopted the same system that stifled Dublin, but misplaced handpasses had Meath's dander up.
With Louth full of nervous tension and the pressure of that commendable Leinster final performance, Meath punished and found space that bit easier.
Ronan Jones and Seán Coffey punched the visitors into an early two-point lead. Then Louth flicked a switch, Mulroy was found in behind the Meath cover and made no mistake.
From that point forward there looked to be only one winner in the Group 4 opener.
Cathal Hickey did respond but Lennon was about to add to reputation and folklore amongst Louth supporters. The Louth Villager made a name for himself in the 2022 fixture but his mazy run and finish stunned Meath and his second completely killed off the derby as a contest. The second half was all about damage limitation for Colm O’Rourke’s side.
Trailing 3-05 to 0-05 at the turn Meath needed to find something from somewhere but Louth were too composed to lend their neighbours a helping hand.
Bar a Bevan Duffy black card and a few glimmers from Eoghan Frayne’s right boot, Ger Brennan’s outfit were flawless in the second half as they eased their way over the line.
Mulroy imperiously added to his tally and with the game opening up, Ciarán Keenan and Ciarán Downey received rapturous applause as the minimal Meath supporters were already homeward bound.
Louth: Niall McDonnell; Donal McKenny, Peter Lynch, Dan Corcoran; Niall Sharkey, Anthony Williams, Craig Lennon (2-01); Tommy Durnin, Conor Grimes; Ciarán Keenan (0-01), Ciarán Downey (0-01), Conall McKeever, Bevan Duffy (0-01); Sam Mulroy (1-06, 0-06f), Ryan Burns.
Subs: Ciarán Byrne for Duffy (54), Leonard Grey for Lennon (60), Paul Mathews for Burns (63), Conor Early for Keenan (67), Dermot Campbell for Corcoran (71).
Meath: Billy Hogan; Donal Keogan, Adam O’Neill, Ronan Ryan; Harry O’Higgins, Darragh Campion, Seán Coffey (0-01); Ronan Jones (0-01), Cian McBride; Ciarán Caulfield (0-01), Cillian O’Sullivan (0-01, 0-01m), Cathal Hickey (0-01); James Conlon, Mathew Costello (0-01), Eoghan Frayne (0-03, 0-02f).
Subs: Conor Gray for McBride (ht), Brian O’Halloran for O’Higgins (ht), Jack O’Connor for O’Sullivan (45), Jordan Morris for Conlon (45), Michael Murphy for Coffey (55).
Referee: Paul Faloon (Down).
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