Division One newcomers: Seán Moran talks to Wexford veteran Scott Doran who, after 10 seasons, is fit and hungry to finally experience life with the big-name counties.

Eleven years ago Scott Doran might have expected to be anticipating Division One football at the start of the league. He came straight to senior from minor after a season rich in promise. Wexford took Meath to a Leinster semi-final replay - thanks to a Doran 45 pointed in the last minute - led by six with time running out but lost in extra time. Meath went on to win the minor All-Ireland.

The opportunity missed at minor level hasn't been reclaimed. Of the '92 team only Doran and John Hegarty remain with the senior panel. Two others possess All-Ireland medals. Rory McCarthy and Damien Fitzhenry took the county's road more travelled and were on Liam Griffin's 1996 team whereas Darragh Ryan has more recently switched his attentions exclusively to hurling.

"Hurling's number one in Wexford; we're number two," says Doran. "When people talk about hurling they talk about winning All-Irelands and Leinsters. For us to get recognition we have to prove ourselves. I could safely say if we got a bandwagon going and got to a Leinster or league final we could get up again."

Even with his career ahead of him, the parameters of Doran's aspirations were modest: "I've never been looking to All-Ireland finals but maybe to a Leinster final and get the opportunity to represent my province."

Now, as he enters his 30s, his realised dreams remain being part of a Railway Cup winning panel and coming on as a replacement for the 1995 and '97 finals. The medals from '96 and '97 may be a career highlight in silverware but Doran's memories aren't particularly fond.

"Basically I was on the panel more than the team, although I got a couple of runs. Experience of being involved with that class of player hopefully improved me, but I felt a bit disconnected from it all. You never felt you were getting a genuine opportunity.

"Dublin and Meath players would always be ahead of you no matter how well you played in training."

A championship fixture for Wexford - only one season missed in 11 - Doran is about to assist the county in its first Division One residency. He describes the belated opportunity as "very attractive", and it comes at just the right time as his fitness and appetite are in conjunction. Otherwise Doran might have considered drawing a line under his intercounty career. Lack of fitness had become a pestilence for a player who up until he was 25 was free of serious injury.

"It had crossed my mind. I've had numerous injuries, like last year a groin problem forced me to miss the league. But I've had a good run with the club (junior outfit Kilmore) and got to a Leinster final, which meant I played right up to December.

"I've no niggling injuries and feel stronger. I've probably another couple of years at this level, but it will be hard if we go down and don't win a couple of matches."

Promotion to Division One, when it finally came, was an impressive achievement. A year previously Wexford had faltered on the final day of the season and failed to take the necessary result against neighbours Carlow, then under the charge of Wexford's new manager Pat Roe. Fate decreed that when the same opportunity arose last April, Carlow again provided the opposition.

"You'd have thought that we'd never have got a better opportunity. And when we had to go to Carlow again last season a lot of the guys were nervous and put in one of our worst performances."

This time, though, there were no slips. Slippage came afterwards. Having taken a warm weather break, Wexford returned for the Division Two semi-finals only to be mortified by Limerick, and the championship - after two good years - turned out a bit nondescript.

"We started to train in October," says Doran. "If you're going for that length of time you get tired. Even though I wasn't playing, you could feel the edge coming off the boys. This year we only started a couple of weeks before Christmas. I think the preparation helped us get promoted, but the other side of the coin is that we were very heavy-legged going into the championship.

"The bigger the team the better. These are the sides you want to be playing week in week out," says Doran whose elite future has finally arrived.