Clare 0-18

Wexford 0-15

Ronan Fagan reports from Chadwicks Wexford Park

BRIAN LOHAN SAVOURED a sweet victory over former All-Ireland-winning team-mate Davy Fitzgerald as Tony Kelly delivered 0-12 to edge 14-man Clare to the second-round Allianz NHL Division 1 Group B spoils at a wet and blustery Chadwicks Wexford Park on Sunday.

Kelly converted seven first-half frees as Clare capitalised on a strong wind to lead 0-12 to 0-4 at the change-of-ends, and although Wexford closed to within 0-15 to 0-14 after 62 minutes, the home-side were left to rue 10 second-half wides.

This was a first inter-county collision between former Clare colleagues turned bitter foes Davy Fitzgerald and Brian Lohan, and unsurprisingly there was no exchange of pleasantries between the pair on the final-whistle.

The trusty long-range striking of Tony Kelly saw Clare seize upon first assistance of the strong wind to surge into a 0-6 to no-score lead within 12 minutes, as Kelly sent over three frees, and Ryan Taylor struck two from play, including going agonisingly close to goaling only for his drive to ping over off the crossbar.

Restricting the damage was clearly high on Wexford’s list of priorities given the conditions, but captain Jack O’Connor pegged back three pointed frees between the 14th and 27th minutes (0-6 to 0-3).

Scoring chances dried up for a time during when referee Seán Cleere had a couple of incidents to adjudicate, and while Clare’s Eoin Quirke escaped ultimate sanction for an over-robust challenge, that wasn’t the case for Banner captain John Conlon, who was shown a straight red-card for a blow on Kevin Foley in the 29th-minute.

Clare recovered more than satisfactorily as a burst of late scores from Tony Kelly (4 frees) together with David Fitzgerald and Shane O’Neill powered them clear by 0-12 to 0-4 at half-time.

Wexford looked to benefit from having the wind in their sails on the re-start as they whipped up an early second-half storm with scores from Pádraig Foley (free), the O’Connor brothers, Rory (2) and Jack, together with ‘keeper Mark Fanning, who came out-field to get on the end of set-piece, and help shave the difference to 0-12 to 0-9 after eleven minutes.

While a burst of wides hindered Wexford’s assault, Conor McDonald (2), Paul Morris and Liam Óg McGovern continued to fuel their fight-back to get them within 0-14 to 0-13 after 58 minutes.

Tony Kelly popped up with lead-preservers for Clare, and as Wexford added four costly closing wides, the Ballyea sharpshooter continued to deliver priceless scores as The Banner pulled through against wasteful hosts.

Scorers for Clare: Tony Kelly 0-12 (10 frees), David Fitzgerald 0-3, Ryan Taylor 0-2, Shane O’Donnell 0-1.

Scorers for Wexford: Jack O’Connor 0-4 (3 frees), Pádraig Foley 0-3 (3 frees), Rory O’Connor, Conor McDonald (0-2 each), Aidan Rochford, Mark Fanning, Paul Morris, Liam Óg McGovern 0-1 each.

CLARE

1 Donal Touhy (Crusheen)

3 Conor Cleary (St Joseph’s Miltown Malbay)
2 Jack Browne (Ballyea)
4 Eoin Quirke (Whitegate)

7 Stephen O’Halloran (Clarecastle)
6 Pat O’Connor (Tubber)
5 Aidan McCarthy (Inagh Kilnamona)

8 David McInerney (Tulla)
9 Tony Kelly (Ballyea)

12 David Reidy (Éire Óg, Ennis)
11 David Fitzgerald (Inagh Kilnamona)
10 Ian Galvin (Clonlara)

13 Ryan Taylor (Clooney Quin)
14 John Conlon (Clonlara, capt.)
15 Shane O’Donnell (Éire Óg, Ennis)

Subs:
19 Cathal Malone (Sixmilebridge) for Kelly (blood, 26-29); for Reidy (60);
21 Domhnall McMahon (Michael Cusacks) for Galvin (46)
18 Seadna Morey (Sixmilebridge) for Taylor (55)
17 Liam Corry (Éire Óg, Ennis) for Quirke (69)
24 Aaron Shanagher (Wolfe Tones) for O’Donnell (70+2).

WEXFORD 

1 Mark Fanning (Glynn Barntown)

4 Joe O’Connor (St Martin’s)
3 Liam Ryan (Rapparees)
17 Shane Reck (Oylegate Glenbrien)

5 Damien Reck (Oylegate Glenbrien)
7 Pádraig Foley (Crossabeg Ballymurn)
6 Shaun Murphy (Oulart The Ballagh)

10 Liam Óg McGovern (St Anne’s)
8 Kevin Foley (Rapparees)

13 Aidan Rochford (St Anne’s)
11 Rory O’Connor (St Martin’s)
9 Jack O’Connor (St Martin’s, capt.)

22 Cathal Dunbar (Naomh Éanna)
14 Conor McDonald (Naomh Éanna)
15 Paul Morris (Ferns St. Aidan’s)

Subs:
12 Aidan Nolan (HWH Bunclody) for McGovern (61)
21 Harry Kehoe (Cloughbawn) for D Reck (64).

Referee: Seán Cleere (Kilkenny)

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