Athlone Town have one foot in the promotion play-off final following a 1-0 first leg victory over Wexford at Lissywollen.
A Dean Ebbe penalty in the 54th minute was the difference, but it could count for nothing as the two teams have to do it all over again on Monday at Ferrycarrig Park.
The prize on stake will be a one-off game with the winner of the tie between Bray Wanderers and UCD and the victor will go on to play Premier Division side Drogheda United.
It's a convoluted path that could end in eternal glory or a winter of regret, and that created a perfect storm in the midlands as clear-cut chances were rare.
The first actual opening of note came from a Thomas Oluwa cross in the 13th minute and that was easily knocked away by Dylan Hand.
Up until that point, it was all Athlone, but their possession counted for very little as Wexford stood firm in defence.
They did win a free-kick in the third minute over a foul on Kyle Robinson, and Leonardo Gaxha’s effort from distance went out for goal-kick.
Wexford slowly found themselves in an attacking sense and they put together the best move of the half when Thomas Oluwa broke a long-ball from Conor Walsh down to Aaron Dobbs in the 37th minute.
The former Ireland U19 international tried working with Divin Isamala, and their attempted low ball to an on-rushing Kian Corbally was cleared by Oisin Duffy.
It was 0-0 at half-time and the game restarted with a shot from Daniel McKenna going straight into the hands of Walsh.
A mistake by Isamala followed, and Gideon Tetteh ran into the area after picking off a stray pass by the half-way line.
The winger was brought down by Lewis Temple as he slowed down, and the resulting penalty was knocked in by Ebbe.
There was no immediate rush for an equaliser by Wexford, who tried to re-jig their team by bringing on Mark Hanratty and Conor Crowley.
Athlone stood their ground, with Hand almost personally fighting the cause from his position in defence.
At the other end of the pitch, Jamal Campion-Hinds went close to doubling his side’s lead with a specular close range strike in the 88th minute.
This helped burn time off the clock during a Wexford rally that never came to life in the dying seconds of play in the midlands.
Athlone Town: Enda Minogue; German Fuentes Rodriguez, Noah Van Geenen, Daniel McKenna, Dylan Hand, Dean Ebbe, Kyle Robinson (Jamal Campion-Hinds 82), Oisin Duffy, Leonardo Gaxha, Brian Torre, Gideon Tetteh.
Wexford FC: Conor Walsh; Darragh Levingston (Conor Crowley 72), Ethan Boyle, Divin Isamala, Kian Corbally, Thomas Oluwa, Aaron Dobbs (Cian Curtis 79), Luka Lovic (Mark Hanratty 61), James Crawford, Lewis Temple, Sean McHale,
Referee: Oliver Moran
