Flat display sees Cla
Wexford depart from championship rac
CLARE WEXFORD
DAVY FITZGERALD’S reunion with his native Clare fell alarmingly shot of expectations before a dismal crowd of 10,255 in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday when Wexford crashed out of the All-Ireland Senior hurling championship at the quarter-final stage for the fourth time in five years.
A flat, error-laden performance saw the high hopes of making some form of meaningful progress crushed by the Banner men who responded to a late surge by hitting the last four points of a disappointing game.
Wexford were in serious trouble at halftime when they trailed by 0-16 to 0-9 after Matthew O’Hanlon won the toss and opted to play against the breeze, and Clare kept them comfortably at arm’s length for most of the second period.
The only spark of hope arrived in the 58th minute when Conor McDonald, the most consistent of an under-performing forward line, latched on to the break from a line ball from the left to fire low to the net and narrow the gap to 0-22 to 1-14.
Although there was a telling Clare response in the form of a Podge Collins point, Wexford took heart from that green flag and almost netted again on their next attack.
A long ball by Shaun Murphy fell for Liam Og McGovern whose low shot was well saved by Donal Tuohy. The break looked inviting for Damien Reck, but he couldn’t force it over the line before Clare full-back David McInerney got his body behind the half-hit effort.
Diarmuid O’Keeffe was fouled seconds later and Rory O’Connor split the posts, with the St. Martin’s lad following up with a fine solo point directly off his stick.
Unfortunately, that momentum was stalled by three wides on the trot by Conor McDonald, substitute Jack O’Connor and Rory O’Connor, bringing the overall tally to twelve which included five from frees.
Clare were wobbling for the only time in the game though, and incredibly the gap was down to just three points after Rory O’Connor drove the ball over the bar following a foul on Matthew O’Hanlon in the 66th minute (0-23 to 1-17).
In truth, the relatively tight margin wasn’t a true reflection on the game as a whole, but there was hope for a Wexford side whose two-man inside forward line featured Conor McDonald and Lee Chin at that stage.
Clare firmly regained the initiative in the closing stages however, with Shane O’Donnell’s fourth point settling them down before substitute Ian Galvin, John Conlon and another replacement, Conor McGrath, made the game safe as thoughts turned to their semi-final clash with Galway on July 28.
Wexford threatened just once in that period, when a Lee Chin handpass intended for Willie Devereux was intercepted, and the game ended in frustration as Jack O’Connor was booked for a high challenge before his brother, Rory, saw red for reacting to Clare substitute Rory Hayes who shouldered him in the back when he arrived on the field.
The Wexford player’s use of the hurl was always going to get him in trouble, although Kilkenny’s Paddy Deegan did the very same to Aaron Gillane of Limerick in Thurles on Sunday and wasn’t even spoken to by the referee. Where’s the consistency?
The individual match-ups in defence at the start saw a full-back line of Damien Reck, Liam Ryan and Matthew O’Hanlon (in the left corner) pitted directly against Shane O’Donnell, John Conlon and Peter Duggan respectively.
The half-back trio of Diarmuid O’Keeffe, Pádraig Foley and Conor Firman faced David Reidy, Tony Kelly and Podge Collins in that order, but the Wexford men generally struggled as all six Clare attackers scored at least twice from play.
The one shining light at the back was Liam Ryan who had a tremendous tussle with Conlon, coming through with flying colours. The Munster side’s form player may have ended with three points, but it was his least assured showing of the season and that was all down to the tenacity of Ryan who hopefully won’t be forgotten by the All Star selectors at the end of the year.
The distribution of Wexford sweeper Shaun Murphy wasn’t up to the required standard, and it was strange to see him overlooked by Mark Fanning for most of the puck-outs given that Wexford were cleaned out every time the ball was driven towards midfield or the opposing half-back line.
The midfield pairing of Kevin Foley and Aidan Nolan struggled, while the five forwards didn’t pose enough of a collective threat. Normally it’s a two-man inside attacking line, but at times on Saturday it seemed that Liam Og McGovern was the only one close to the opposition goal as both Rory O’Connor and Lee Chin appeared to have the freedom to roam.
The only set positions up front, apart from McGovern’s, were on the right and left wings which were manned by David Dunne and Conor McDonald respectively, although the latter did move inside near the end.
A Damien Reck point after 47 seconds, set up by Dunne and McGovern, proved a false dawn as the only other man to score from play before the break was McDonald.
He managed three points to supplement five Rory O’Connor frees, whereas twelve of Clare’s first-half tally of 16 arrived from play and all six attackers made the scoresheet.
It may have taken the Munster men 15 minutes to settle into a decent rhythm, but once they got going they were clearly superior to Wexford, with Tony Kelly causing havoc at centre-forward.
Reck’s early lead point was cancelled by the Clare number 11 before Wexford’s sole two wides prior to the break arrived from frees taken by Pádraig Foley and Rory O’Connor respectively.
Nobody was inside to prosper from a Liam Og McGovern point attempt that came off the post, with the St. Anne’s man starting in place of Paul Morris who was absent completely from the squad owing to his knee injury.
The other two changes from the Westmeath game saw Under-21 duo Conor Firman and Rory O’Connor back in to replace Simon Donohoe and Jack O’Connor respectively.
Rory restored the lead after a foul on Kevin Foley following excellent work by Liam Ryan, but Clare hit the next three points courtesy of Seadna Morey, who latched on to a Wexford puck-out, Peter Duggan (free) and Shane O’Donnell, the latter after another Duggan placed ball came back off the post.
A high challenge on David Dunne led to a booking for Colm Galvin and a point for Rory O’Connor, with David Reidy catching the re-start and making it 5-3 after a solo run. Duggan controlled Mark Fanning’s puck-out to begin a move featuring David McInerney and Shane O’Donnell before the rampant Tony Kelly left three between the sides.
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