Chin-inspired Wexford dump Cork from the championship

and were clearly growing in self-belief before a brace of points from Conor Lehane in stoppage time and another from a Patrick Horgan free made it 0-12 to 0-9 at half time.

That the Cork attack found the going tough in the second quarter was an obvious source of concern, with only Luke O’Farrell making any sort of a sustained impact up front before the break. Conor Lehane’s late flourish raised hopes he might be ready to take flight on the turnover, but the input from the other Cork forwards left a lot to be desired.

Playing Paudie Foley as a sweeper, with midfielder Jack O’Connor moving back to fill the pivotal slot in defence, worked a treat for Wexford, but none of their defenders was seriously troubled by his immediate opponent in any case.

It was a different story at the other end where Christopher Joyce clearly had his hands full against Wexford centre-forward Lee Chin, Aidan Walsh was similarly stretched by David Dunne, and Stephen McDonnell and Damien Cahalane weren’t without their problems either against Paul Morris and Conor McDonald respectively.

Conor O’Sullivan paid his way as the spare man in the full back line, but, all in all, Cork seldom functioned convincingly as a unit in the first half, with a tally of eleven wides mirroring the paucity of their shot selection and option-taking.

There was to be no improvement in Cork fortunes in attack on

the resumption, and it wasn’t until the 55th minute that they broke their second half duck from play, courtesy of a Luke O’Farrell point.

Trailing by 0-16 to 0-14 at that juncture, and fortunate to be still in the hunt after Wexford’s David Dunne had failed to avail of a couple of goal chances earlier, Cork enjoyed another rub of the green in the 61st minute when substitute Daniel Kearney goaled.

The chance came about following a rare mistake by Paudie Foley, allowing Conor Lehane to set Kearney up for a three-pointer that nudged Cork ahead by the minimum, 1-15 to 0-17.

Even that wasn’t enough to give Cork– for whom Mark Ellis at the back, William Egan at midfield, and O’Farrell and Lehane, spasmodically, in attack, performed best overall – the impetus to get them home, as they were outpointed by six to two on the run-in.