Brian Lohan admits his Clare side are nervously looking over their shoulders after falling to defeat at home to Wexford today.
Darragh Egan’s Model side followed up their impressive first round league victory over All-Ireland champions Limerick with a full-merited win at Cusack Park.
It leaves the Banner with no points to show for their opening two games and a crunch game against bottom side Offaly to come in two weeks.
“It’s two games lost and we’ve still got Galway and Limerick to come, it’s a tough league,” said Lohan. “It’s an improvement today so hopefully we get a couple of boys back for our visit to Offaly in two weeks.”
“Three of our finishing forwards there were under-20 last year, one guy just turned 18. Just with the injuries we have had, we have had to put them under pressure to play. In fairness they have stood up.”
The foundation for Wexford’s latest victory was laid in the opening half when Rory O’Connor, in his first outing this season, caused all sorts of problems for the home side.
He scored 1-4 from play in that period alone and won a number of frees which his brother Jack converted.
Having played against the breeze, the Slaneysiders were in a strong position at half time when they led by two points, 1-9 to 1-7.
Clare played much better in the second half, particularly in the third quarter at the end of which they were two points to the good.
In a 10 minute spell between the 20th and 30th minutes of the half, Wexford hit 1-5 without reply to open a six point lead. The goal came from midfielder Diarmuid O’Keeffe who gave Eibhear Quilligan in the Clare goal no chance with a powerful strike after the Clare defence had lost possession.
Five minutes before that goal Quilligan had made a superb save at the expense of a 65 from Rory O’Connor. The ‘65 was pointed by Jack O’Connor who hit 0-9 in this tie.
Wexford manager Darragh Egan admitted: “We stuttered over the line to be honest.
“Because of Clare’s wides in the first half we were in a position at half time that we probably shouldn’t have been in. We were slow starting the second half but we dug it out helped by a great goal from Diarmuid O’Keeffe which was the deciding factor really.
“We really have lots to learn from that game.”
The early exchanges were even with the sides level three times in the opening ten minutes. Man of the match Rory O’Connor struck for the opening goal in the twenty first minute. After racing through the Clare defence his first attempt was stopped by Eibhear Quilligan but O’Connor dispatched the rebound to the net.
As the game approached the half hour mark Clare struck for their goal with Shane Meehan applying the finish after Mark Fanning in the Wexford goal had saved twice from John Conlon. This score levelled the tie for the fourth time.
For much of the second half a share of the spoils looked the likely, outcome as scores were exchanged on a regular basis. The teams were level on five occasions in this half and nine times in all over the seventy minutes. In the end, however, shooting 11 wides in the first half proved costly for Clare who simply were unable to curb Rory O’Connor on the day.
In addition to O’Connor, the Leinster outfit had impressive performers in Liam Ryan, Matthew O’Hanlon, Paudie Foley, Diarmuid O’Keeffe, Mikie Dwyer and goalkeeper Mark Fanning.
Clare’s best on the day were Paul Flanagan, Paddy Donnellan, Shane Meehan, Mark Rodgers and substitute Patrick Crotty.
Wexford; M. Fanning (8); S. Donohue (7), L. Ryan(8), D. Reck 7 (0-2); M. O’Hanlon (8), P. Foley 8 (0-1), C. Flood 7 (0-1); D. O’Keeffe 8 (1-0), L. Og McGovern 7; O. Foley 6, J. O’Connor 8 (0-9, 6f, 1 ‘65), C. McGuckian 6; R. O’Connor 9 (1-4), M. Dwyer 8 (0-1), C. McDonald 7 (0-2);
Subs; C. Dunbar 7 for O. Foley(49); N. Murphy 7 for Ryan (62); P.Morris for McGuckian (62); O. Peppar for McGovern (68);
Clare; E. Quilligan 8; R. Hayes 6, C. Cleary 7, P. Flanagan 8; D. Ryan 7, J. Browne 7, D. Fitzgerald 6; J. McCarthy 6, P. Donnellan 7 (0-3); C. Malone 7, J. Conlon 7 (0-2), R. Taylor 6; S. Meehan 7 (1-0), D. McMahon 6, M. Rodgers 7(0-12, 10f, 1 ‘65);
Subs; P. Crotty 7 (0-2) for McMahon (half time); R. Mounsey 6 (0-1) for Taylor (67) S. Golden for McCarthy (67); A. Shanagher for Conlon (70)
Man of the match; Rory O’Connor, Wexford
Referee; Colm Lyons, Cork
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