THIS NATIONAL League game, played in near-perfect conditions in Breffni Park, was much more closely contested than the scoreline suggests. It did look bad for Wexford when the home side, playing with a strong wind, hit the ground running and had three points on the board within the first five minutes.

To their credit, Wexford re-grouped and did not drop their heads. They got their first point on eight minutes from a free by Catherine Doyle after Claire Finn was fouled. However, they were torn apart straight from the kick-out as a sweeping Cavan move ended with the ball blasted to the corner of the net by Gráinne Smith.

The same player pointed from distance just three minutes later, followed by another from corner forward Bríd Boylan. Wexford again rallied well and were rewarded when Catherine Doyle pointed from a free after being hauled down.

For the remaining 12 minutes of the half, the Slaneysiders displayed steely determination and held the Cavan forwards to just two more points. The visitors had a further point from the lively Catherine Doyle after a lovely passing move involving Fiona Rochford, Sharon Kehoe, Tara Moloney and Maeve Quill to leave the halftime score at 1-7 to 0-3.

The team in purple and gold dominated the start of the second-half but they found scores very hard to come by. They did manage to raise a green flag five minutes in after Leona Tector gathered in defence and played in Maeve Quill, who found Sandra Thorpe on the wing.

Catherine Doyle made a great diagonal run to receive from Sandra and quickly off-loaded to the inrushing Marcella Cullen, whose first-time shot gave 'keeper Karen Baxter no chance. However, that was to be their final score, despite all their valiant efforts.

For the remainder, it was backs to the wall and they did extremely well to hold the home side scoreless for the first 16 minutes of the second period before Gráinne Smith pointed from a free. Cavan added another four points but were unable to manage a goal thanks to some superb saves and blocks from Mary Rose Kelly twice, Tara Moloney and Aisling Mullan.

There was much to laud in the performance of Wexford, not least their honesty and tremendous work ethic. Their rearguard, particularly Catríona McCabe, Shelly Doyle and Aoife Waters, defended heroically. Marcella Cullen was tireless at midfield while the forwards had to work so hard for every scrap of possession and were ably led by top scorer, Catherine Doyle. The impressive half-forwards, Maeve Quill and Tara Moloney especially, spent much of their time helping out the defence.

The tactic to take Leona Tector from corner-forward to shore up the defence backfired somewhat as, although she did win a lot of possession, the Cavan corner-forward also enjoyed a huge amount of possession and was the springboard for several dangerous attacks.

This team is a 'work in progress' and there is strong competition for places. There are three league games remaining, all of them with home advantage, starting with Wicklow on Saturday next in Wexford Park at 2 p.m., followed by Roscommon on March 28 and Fermanagh on April 11.

With very little separating a lot of the panel members, there is no doubt that if the effort to date is continued and built upon, anyone can win one of those coveted places for the business end of the season when the championship commences.

Up to this point, Wexford have played against teams graded as Intermediate for the championship.

However, Wicklow are in the Junior grade like themselves, so this means that Saturday's encounter in the park will be watched with more than a passing degree of interest to see where they stand.