Division One/Clare 5-16 Wexford 1-15: Wexford's worst fears borne out. Clare, having found their rhythm at Wexford Park yesterday, crushed the ever-weakening challenge of their accommodating hosts to reach their first league final in three years.
After a promising start, Wexford vindicated their new status as the poor relations of the county's footballers. The final humiliation in a 13-point defeat was that Clare finished with 14 men. The Munster men had used all their substitutes by the time Frank Lohan was sent for an early shower in the last quarter.
Lohan was the second Clare defender to be yellow-carded; Gerry O'Grady had earned the wrath of Laois referee Anthony Stapleton early in the game.
The final score could hardly, however, have been expected by any of the 3,221 spectators as they watched the first third of what looked like a thriller in the making. After 25 minutes it was 1-7 apiece, though Wexford were facing a stiff wind.
Their upbeat display included a magnificent two-pointer sideline cut from 40 yards by John O'Connor followed up by a stunning goal from Nigel Higgins.
A warning flicker of the lightning to follow came when Niall Gilligan capitalised on a bad defensive error by Wexford full back David O'Connor, breaking clear at speed and aiming a rocket into Damien Fitzhenry's net.
From there, Wexford deteriorated at an alarming rate. Gilligan was unlucky to have another shot at goal somehow deflected for a 65, but the Sixmilebridge man would score 2-3 of the winning tally, not far behind Tony Carmody's 2-6.
If Wexford did well by keeping their wides tally down to zero in that first half they redressed matters with a string of wayward shots after Diarmuid McMahon crashed another Clare goal within a minute of the restart - building on Clare's half-time lead of 2-12 to 1-7. Wexford from then on were merely making up the numbers, their confidence clearly cut off at source.
Even Fitzhenry proved woefully inept when trying to police a long delivery by Conor Plunkett wide of his left post only for Carmody to nip in and score Clare's fourth goal.
The fifth Clare goal was nonchalantly netted by an unmarked Gilligan, which highlighted the abject lack of concentration in the battered Wexford defence.
Apart from their attacking heroes Gilligan and Carmody, Clare's other main contributors to this one-way exercise were the Lohans, Brian and Frank, Alan Markham and Colin Lynch.
Malachy Travers and Declan Ruth did reasonably well in a disorganised Wexford defence, while Rory McCarthy and the Jacobs, Michael and Rory, strove hardest for the losers.
Clare manager Anthony Daly sympathised with Wexford. "It was difficult for them after that bad day at the office they had last week," he said. "Defeats like that tend to wreck your confidence. My only fear now is that Kilkenny will be dying to give us a hiding in the final."
Wexford's Séamus Murphy was frank in his summing up. "We don't have the physical presence that most teams have, but at least we met our initial aim to reach the second phase.
"Now we go back to the training field and the blackboard on Tuesday next to prepare for the championship."
CLARE: D Fitzgerald; F Lohan, B Lohan, G O'Grady; A Markham (0-1), S McMahon (0-2, one free and 65), G Quinn; B O'Connell (0-1), C Lynch; C Plunkett (0-1), D McMahon (1-0), D O'Connell (0-1); A Quinn (0-1), N Gilligan (2-3, 0-1 free), T Carmody (2-6). Subs: D Hoey for G Quinn, D O'Rourke for D McMahon (both 45 mins), J Clancy for A Quinn, C Forde for S McMahon (both 63 mins).
WEXFORD: D Fitzhenry; M Travers, D O'Connor, K Rossiter; D Ruth (0-2 frees), D Stamp, K Kavanagh; J O'Connor (0-2 sideline cut), N Higgins (1-1); R McCarthy, E Quigley (0-1), M Jacob (0-1); D Mythen, M Jordan, R Jacob (0-6, two frees). Subs: MJ Furlong for J O'Connor (43 mins), D O'Brien for McCarthy (63 mins), B Lambert (0-2) for Quigley (60 mins).
YELLOW CARDS: Clare: G O'Grady and F Lohan.
Referee: A Stapleton (Laois).
