Merren proving a safe pair of hands for Wexford
Unbeaten in their last eight games, Wexford have been quietly climbing up the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division table. And a big contributor to that has been goalkeeper Jayne Merren.
The 19-year-old has established herself as the starting stopper in her debut season at Ferrycarrig Park and anyone who has watched her in action can understand why.
There might only be three clean sheets recorded to date, but she has made 45 saves - which breaks down as 3.83 per 90 minutes - and scores 2.29 on prevented goals (second in the League behind Shelbourne's Amanda McQuillan).
Galway United are up next to test Merren as they visit The Model County for the live TG4 game on Saturday night. It is an intriguing match-up between the teams sitting third and fourth in the league (Galway ahead on four points) and yet it is the type of contest that the Wexford keeper will relish.
Goalkeepers are often quizzed if they would prefer to be quiet or active during a game. With Merren, the answer is pretty clear: she wants to be involved in the action. That is when she comes alive.
The Ireland Women's Under-19 international wants to get her team up the pitch as quickly as possible. From 140 goal kicks taken, 120 of those have been long and 20 played short with a 94% success rate with her distribution on the latter. Quite simply, she doesn't waste time with the ball at her feet.
Yet, it is Merren's handling skills that have, unsurprisingly, caught the eye this season. She is comfortable charging off her line to shut down attacking opponents or equally positioning herself to deal with all kinds of shots. She trusts in her ability to deal with the danger. Practice makes perfect and that is what is working for her.
While it's still very early in her development, Merren is already showing great promise as a starting goalkeeper in this League. She was back-up to Athlone Town's Katie Keane at international level at this summer's UEFA WU19 European Championships but she remains close to her friend when it comes to the ranking of the League's best stoppers.
On Saturday, she will have to be on full alert to deal with the threat of Galway's Julie-Ann Russell, Emma Doherty, Jenna Slattery and Lynsey McKey - not to forget their options from set-pieces - but Merren won't be fazed by it. She will be pumped up for it because this is the arena where she wants to be.
For Wexford that is good news because they have someone with a safe pair of hands whom they can rely on.
