THE DVD of Saturday's floodlit Allianz Football League Division 3 tie in Kingspan Breffni Park will not make for pleasant viewing for the Wexford mentors after the visitors took an unwanted step backwards in the quest for promotion with a disappointing defeat.

Three factors in particular should exercise the minds: the manner in which moves broke down so carelessly, resulting in handy scores for the opposition; the fact that midfield struggled to win primary possession; and the unwillingness of more than one forward to fight for 'dirty' ball.

On the one hand it could be argued that the final scoreline is a little harsh on Wexford given that they narrowed the gap to the minimum three times near the end.

However, that is to ignore the chief statistic from the game which saw Cavan score 16 of their points from play compared to a mere five from their rivals who are struggling to find any degree of consistency.

They clearly weren't helped by the loss of Brian Malone to a second yellow card in the 67th minute. Referee Jimmy McKee played an advantage after his late challenge on Eoin McGuigan and seemed to have forgotten about the incident until linesman Brian O'Shea reminded him at the next break in play, and Malone duly walked.

With Wexford chasing the game at that stage, large gaps appeared when they gave the ball away, and this enabled Cavan substitutes Ray Cullivan and Martin Reilly (two) plus the rampant Cian Mackey to fire over the late insurance points.

That sole refereeing decision went against Wexford, but in general he was more than generous to the visitors as a free count of 37-15 in their favour indicates.

A few hours after Brian O'Driscoll was rightly lauded for completing his century of appearance with Ireland, corner-back Niall Murphy reached a similar milestone in a far more understated manner, having made his Senior debut in 1999.

He was extremely consistent for the second game running, while Joey Wadding had another polished outing in the full-back line. However, David Walsh's problems with Cian Mackey mounted as the game progressed, and surely it would have been worth the risk of moving Wadding on to Cavan's main dangerman who finished with five points from play.

Significantly, Wexford never led even though no more than three points ever separated the sides in the firsthalf.

Cavan wing-forward Ronan Flanagan was allowed far too much space and fisted their opening point after 52 seconds, with Pat Naughter firing over a beauty in reply from close to the sideline in the eighth minute.

And although Shane Roche brought Wexford level again from a free after rampant Cavan midfielder David Givney had restored their lead, the home side then hit three points without reply from Mark McKeever, Cian Mackey and Flanagan.

The constant concession of frees by the Cavan backs, some of them dubious it must be said, kept Wexford in the hunt as Shane Roche displayed good accuracy and also hooked an effort from play over the bar when a Redmond Barry '45 dropped short.

Pat Naughter picked off a second point too from a Niall Murphy pass, and the gap was down to one (0-8 to 0-7) by the break.

Cavan looked sharper again on the re-start, with Joey Wadding making a vital early block to deny Micheál Lyng a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Wexford's best spell yielded three unanswered points from Shane Roche (two frees), with Eric Bradley coming more into the game at midfield, and it was 0-11 to 0-10 midway through the half. It might have worked out differently if they had managed to draw level even once, but Cavan dug their heels in and deserved their win.

- ALAN AHERNE In Kingspan Breffni Park CAVAN WEXFORD