Heart-warming heroics in unseasonable squalor distinguished the opening hour of summer's gun-slinging season in New Ross yesterday.
Wexford and Longford, as is their wont, weaved another draw out of 70 minutes and left their fans with just a taste of what it is those followers of the more illustrious counties get excited about.
Even the weather seemed to spite this early-season preliminary match, spilling across the county remorselessly and giving the players all too vivid recollections of the sort of stuff they thought they'd left behind with Christmas.
And although the general greasiness prompted errors and a fair bit of untidiness, both sides dashed through the splash with real summer sharpness to fashion some wonderful scores.
Longford's debut forward Paul Barden, in particular, caught the eye. He coursed the heavy terrain like a hare, piercing the heart of the Wexford defence after nine minutes and linking with Derek Farrell before blasting the game's only goal. That left the score at 1-2 to 0-1 and though the home team were playing into a biting cold wind, there were murmurings of ill-ease in the packed stand.
Both full back units betrayed the early game tension at various moments but as the match began to beat to a discernible rhythm, key individuals started to assert themselves.
Martin Mulleady was a revelation in the corner for the visitors, totally silencing Wexford's normally buzzing attacker Jason Lawlor to such an extent that Ger Halligan withdrew him in the second half. Mulleady later went across to mark Scott Doran, Wexford's inventive forward who kicked with remarkable accuracy all afternoon.
With the ball constantly squirting from midfield, most of the play was concentrated around the half-back lines and it was here that Wexford's Leigh O'Brien and Rory Stafford exerted untold influence, repeatedly snuffing out Longford build-ups and effectively keeping their county in the competition.
O'Brien launched three huge kicks from placed balls which carried true with the wind and then flicked a pass on for Stafford who clipped the late equalising point.
Just two minutes earlier, it looked as though Longford were going to profit for the second year running. The visitors were forced to dig deep after Wexford appeared to have engineered an irresistible revival through massive points from Michael Mahon and Doran.
Then John Harrington flicked a ball for John Hegarty, who burned downfield and lobbed an equaliser, 0-12 to 1-9 with ten 10 minutes remaining.
Longford, on the ropes for most of the second half, might have been forgiven for capitulating at that point. Instead, they just moved up a gear.
Racing into space, Paul Barden completed a sublime pick-up at full speed and fired his third score and then his brother Enda answered an O'Brien free with another thunderous point to leave matters at 0-14 to 1-13 and time ebbing.
Indeed, the elder Barden had another fine day at centre-field for Longford, occasionally bursting through the heart of the Wexford offence and although he did at times eclipse his opposite numbers, Darcy and Harrington, in particular, made their presence known in the final white-hot minutes.
Scott Doran cracked another casually marvellous score in the next sequence of play and with the kick out came a sense of inevitability about the draw. So it went, with Harrington earning a soft foul and Stafford stepping up for a brave old summer-saving shot.
Afterwards, players from both sides collapsed more out of exhaustion than despair; nobody on the field resented the prospect of another Sunday in the championship. So, it's back to Longford they go. This tie may not have the glamour name just yet, but it lacks nothing for intrigue.
