Wexford - 1-15 Clare - 1-13 Paul Codd, who finished with nine points, steered under-pressure Wexford to a two-point victory over a struggling Clare outfit in their Division One Group One game at Wexford Park yesterday.
The Rathnure star was in scintillating form playing on Brian Lohan and he punished every indiscretion in the visitors' defence, with seven of his scores coming from placed balls.
But in truth, Clare only showed their teeth in the closing minutes when the game seemed to have gone away from them. They were trailing by four points when Niall Gilligan flashed an Ollie Baker sideline cut to the net to leave the minimum separating the sides, but it was the home side's substitute, Mitch Jordan, who sealed the points, hitting over the bar after breaching the Clare defence.
With both sides already out of the league race the game was of little significance. It was riddled with poor striking and mis-directed passes and there was little fluent hurling.
Wexford struck 12 wides during the opening 35 minutes, and 16 in all, while the Clare attack was almost equally erratic, with a total of 13 wides. This just about sums up the respective attacks, for apart from Codd for the home side, and Gilligan along with late replacement Andrew Quinn for Clare, there was little attacking quality on offer.
Both sides missed numerous early chances and the sides were still deadlocked at 0-3 each after seven minutes, before points from Alan Markham and Gilligan had the Clare side leading 0-5 to 0-3 after 17 minutes, despite playing into a strong wind.
After Codd, Barry Goff, Declan Ruth and Goff again tacked on Wexford points a rather harmless-looking lob from Goff deceived goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald and finished in the corner of the net - a score which helped the home side to a four-point interval lead, 1-8 to 0-7.
Cyril Lyons' charges were finding it difficult to stamp any kind of authority on the game and their struggle continued through the second half despite having the wind behind them.
The second half turned into something of a shoot-out between Codd and Gilligan as they were the only forwards who seemed capable of finding the target, although Andrew Quinn chipped in with a nice brace for Clare. But it was still Wexford who looked the more comfortable, leading 1-14 to 0-13 with less than a minute remaining.
But Wexford hearts skipped a collective beat seconds later. Ollie Baker, just in the game as a substitute, floated a sideline cut to the fringe of the Wexford square where Gilligan got his hurley to the ball to flick it past a startled Damian Fitzhenry in the home goal.
This was the only period in which the game sprang to life as Clare went in search of the equalising score, as both Brian Lohan and Seán McMahon drove lengthy clearances out of defence.
But the Wexford defence, inspired by Rory Mallon and Malachy Travers, held firm, before they managed to launch a late attack of their own.
Jordan, who had only been introduced to the game for the closing 15 minutes, eventually found space. With the Clare defence pressing forward, a long ball put him inside the defence and he lobbed the advancing Fitzgerald. His shot just skimmed the bar, resulting in a point, but it was enough to secure the points for the home side.
The defeat was a blow to Clare, coming so quickly after their demoralising effort against Cork seven days previously, while the victory will give Wexford a lift following their Galway defeat. They will have to offer much better, however, if they hope to achieve a result against title-holders Kilkenny next Sunday.
WEXFORD: D Fitzhenry; M Travers, D O'Connor, R Mallon; K Rossiter, D Ruth (0-1, f), M O'Leary; D Stamp, R McCarthy; M J Furlong, D Berry, B Goff (1-2); C McGrath, P Codd (0-9, 7fs), R Jacob (0-2). Sub: M Jordan (0-1) for Stamp (inj).
CLARE: D Fitzgerald; B Quinn, B Lohan, F Lohan; C Plunkett, S McMahon (0-1, f), D Hoey; C Lynch, G Quinn; T Griffin (0-1), A Markham (0-2), J Reddan; N Gilligan (1-5, 3fs); A Quinn (0-4), B Murphy. Subs: D McMahon for G Quinn; D Kennedy for Reddan; G O'Grady for Plunkett; D O'Connell for Murphy; O Baker for Kennedy.
Referee: M Wadding (Waterford).
