Once again a sending-off spoiled what promised to be a closely-fought battle at Pearse Park in Longford yesterday, when the Wexford full back Mick Kavanagh was shown the red card after two yellows in quick succession, less than three minutes into the match.

Wexford had taken the lead through a Scott Doran point in the opening minute; but when play switched to the other end several players were involved in a melee near the Wexford goal.

That petered out without incident, but almost immediately Kavanagh was shown the yellow card for a foul on Niall Sheridan and when he quickly repeated the offence the red card was shown by referee Noel Cooney.

From there on things went from bad to worse for Wexford as Longford made good use of their extra man, in the person of Frank MacNamee, their centre half back. He roamed at will when his original marker, Pat Forde was moved to replace Kavanagh at full back.

With the wind in their favour, and the crowd of some 6,000 roaring them on, Longford soon took control of the match and never really looked like losing it. Leading by 0-8 to 0-3 with halftime looming, the home side struck a crucial blow when Pauric Davis placed Paul Barden for a beautifully-executed goal and at that point Longford had sped into a lead of 1-10 to 0-3 and victory was all but ensured.

They scored their second goal five minutes into the second half. A raid down the right flank by the hardworking Niall Sheridan saw him cross the ball dangerously into the Wexford goalmouth where the advancing Ollie Murphy was beaten to the jump by Trevor Smullen. Longford now had an unassailable 11-point lead at 2-10 to 0-5.

The fact that Wexford were short a man left a lot of space available and Smullen, moving forward from the left half back position, and Paul Barden at left half forward, both exploited it to the full. They each contributed a goal and four points. In the circumstances Wexford midfielder John Harrington played a hero's part for his county and Colin Sutherland, Leigh O'Brien, John Hegarty and Jason Lawlor also offered fierce resistance; but to little avail.

Longford's defence relaxed quite alarmingly at times in the second half; but they steadied when steadiness was needed against the wind. Against a more vigilant attack, however, they would have found themselves in trouble.