All-Ireland SHC Quarter-final/Clare 1-27 Wexford 1-15: The scoreline is so baldly informative that it is tempting to just append a three-word report....Nothing much happened.
Wexford, who have so often given Croke Park a jolt of electricity, turned the place into sleepy hollow yesterday. They lost by 11 points but were so listless and worryingly inert that the game in the county needs to be placed on the life-support machine for the immediate future.
Clare scored a goal and 27 points without ever really breaking into a gallop and might have inflicted a more humiliating total had they not been content late on to merely pepper Damien Fitzhenry's goal with pot shots. Their passage to the semi-final was unremarkable and pleasing and by way of enjoying the scenery they gave run-outs to a full complement of subs. There'll be more fraught afternoons ahead but yesterday's game deserves to be filed in oblivion.
The game was won in the opening quarter when Wexford lay supine and allowed Clare to run in six consecutive points and then a goal without reply. Clare bossed proceedings like a club senior team having a run-out against underage players, and Wexford's lack of belief made them almost deferential. In the stands you could see grown men in the purple and gold actually wincing.
Astonishing sights along the way. Tony Carmody is no shirk but can hardly have imagined taking four from play off Declan Ruth in the opening 14 minutes. Wexford, granted a rare chance, put Stephen Doyle through on Davy Fitz's goal, the net beckoned but Doyle dribbled a kick wide.
And Clare's goal? Diarmuid McMahon battling along the end line with Keith Rossiter in desperate pursuit. One glance up and a short-stick strike to the roof of Fitzhenry's net.
Game over with 54 minutes left to play, unless lightning strikes or the Rackard boys are sent among us again.
Clare's summer since the trauma against Cork in late May has been a time of self-discovery. Anthony Daly came out of Semple Stadium that day declaring he had learned a little about some of the players he introduced.
His clubmen Derek Quinn and Jonathan Clancy have earned the trust of the management and Clancy in particular has brought a new dimension around the middle of the field.
Although he is small for the position, his pace and ability to snap up the breaking balls have given Clare something their traditionally muscular centre-fielders haven't been able to offer.
Quinn had a quiet game yesterday but contributed well enough, while all the other starting forwards helped themselves greedily. Clare find themselves in the odd but pleasing position of having forwards who have shared the scoring out quite evenly all summer. Niall Gilligan, Tony Griffin, Quinn, Carmody, Alan Markham - all have decent summer aggregates to their names, and the bench offers options in Barry Nugent, Declan O'Rourke and Daithí O'Connell, all three of whom appeared yesterday in the second half.
Clare bemoaned that they left last year's All-Ireland semi-final behind them. They have learned plenty in the intervening months and the only worry concerning the ability to reproduce such an intense performance next month is the knowledge that the spine of their defence has grown a year older. Neither Seánie McMahon nor Brian Lohan was overly stretched yesterday though, and the latter found time for some vintage red-helmet moments.
Having permitted Wexford to close to within five points at one stage in the first half, Clare stirred themselves before the interval, effortlessly tagging four points in a row to remove all mention of hope from Séamus Murphy's half-time oration. To underline the seriousness of the situation Clare scored the first three points of the second half, Tony Griffin notching a pair. Wexford never strung together more than a couple of points from play and seldom threatened to raise any pulses in the audience as they struck out on the road to Palookaville.
Of more concern to Clare was the Croke Park surface, which - missing its daily ration of rain - has been baked hard and caused problems for a couple of players, in particular Colin Lynch who was withdrawn as a precaution, and Niall Gilligan, who suffered a slight twist.
For Clare the reward for their summer of resurrection is a semi-final clash with Kilkenny. On form they will start with the longer odds but that will suit them. Favouritism has never sat easily in The Banner. The hope is that a less-than-vintage hurling summer will ripen in the late summer sun.
Wexford, meanwhile, will offer the excuses of retirements, defections and injuries but theirs has been a miserable, shapeless summer consisting of a one-point win over Offaly and two bad defeats. A county which failed to build on success has now to look at what it can salvage from failure.
It is only out of respect for the past that we continue to list Wexford among the dark horses year in and year out. The heritage has been squandered by clueless men in shiny suits, a sad way to mark the 10th anniversary of a famous All-Ireland.
CLARE: D Fitzgerald; G O'Grady, B Lohan, F Lohan; B O'Connell, S McMahon (capt) (0-3, frees), G Quinn; J Clancy, C Lynch; D McMahon (1-2), T Carmody (0-5), N Gilligan (0-5, 2 frees); D Quinn (0-1), A Markham (0-2), T Griffin (0-5). Subs: D O'Connell (0-2) for D Quinn (h-t), D O'Rourke for C Lynch (h-t), F Lynch (0-1) for T Griffin, C Plunkett for S McMahon (both 54 mins), B Nugent (0-1) for A Markham (61 mins).
WEXFORD: D Fitzhenry; D O'Connor, K Rossiter, M Travers; R Kehoe, D Ruth (0-1, free), D Lyng; R McCarthy (1-1), C Kenny; E Quigley (0-1), M Doyle, M Jacob (0-1); S Doyle (0-3, frees), T Mahon, R Jacob (0-3). Subs: P Codd (0-3, frees) for S Doyle (h-t), PJ Nolan for M Doyle (46 mins), D Mythen (0-2) for E Quigley (49 mins), M Jordan for C Kelly (57 mins).
Referee: M Haverty (Galway)
