Leinster SHC Semi-final/Wexford 2-14 Dublin 3-10:Where does the moral balance lie in sport? Where do you measure from? On Saturday night in Nowlan Park the hurlers of Dublin could hardly claim the soul-destroying manner of their defeat gave them a moral entitlement to anything better on the evening - Wexford had 18 wides after all - but on the run of misfortunes over the season and indeed over the years Dublin surely are due a break.

Barry Lambert was the instrument of fate's latest wheeze. His injury-time free from some 80 yards put the cap on a final few minutes that saw Dublin haul themselves from the grave only to get shoved back in again.

One of those cruel twists. Dublin might have had, and should have had, a free a split second earlier with the game looking to be heading for a draw following a late Dublin goal.

But Kevin Flynn was penalised and substitute Lambert hit a perfectly struck free, lifting and striking without a cloud of doubt ever scudding across his mind.

Wexford duly ducked under the gate to their seventh successive Leinster final.

Dublin, who had faded badly for a critical period of the second half, had fashioned an unlikely revival with two points, both from David Curtin, and then a goal from Ross O'Carroll when he latched on to a long free from Ronan Fallon.

That Dublin were permitted to entertain dreams of a replay tells much about Wexford's distracted and disjointed performance.

At five points up and having won a long series of puck-outs to underline their dominance, subs Mitch Jordan and Rory McCarthy contrived to mess up a goal chance when the words "final" "nail" and "coffin" were being scribbled into most notebooks.

"I was worried in the last five minutes because we conceded possession to Dublin," said Wexford manager John Meyler afterwards. "But in fairness, you know, that free 80 yards out on the sideline, it shows there's character there. As they say in Cork, the game is played over 70 minutes. We won by a point. Simple."

Dublin head into the qualifiers, a journey that, as Tommy Naughton pointed out when asked if he was looking forward to it, they have no choice but to look forward to.

However that odyssey goes, Dublin hurling people will reflect that Saturday night was a fine chance to reach a Leinster final.

Hurling, for various reasons, without Johnny McCaffrey, Alan McCrabbe, Kevin O'Reilly and Daithí O'Callaghan, Dublin were entitled to wonder what might have been.

To compound matters, they lost Phillip Brennan and Derek O'Reilly from their defence early on through injuries.

Dublin's pool of talent, already shallowed by the suck of football, can scarcely do without half-a-dozen players of that calibre, but they battled on.

On the positive side, Dublin can reflect that they hurled with more championship style and confidence than they have in many seasons, and in the performances of Fallon and Stephen Hiney down the spine of the defence they gave the championship two exhibitions of finest-grade hurling.

It had started inauspiciously. Having gone a point ahead through John Kelly and having been hauled back by a Paul Carley free, Dublin saw young corner back Tomás Brady lose track of his man, Nigel Higgins, an error which was punished by a neat pass which permitted Higgins to pick his spot and put Dublin on the back foot from the start.

Wexford quickly added two points.

Dublin dusted themselves down and got on with it.

Not long afterwards their doughtiness was rewarded when Flynn latched on to a delivery from Pádraig O'Driscoll out on the right. He skimmed past Malachy Travers and buried the ball past Damien Fitzhenry.

Dublin were beginning to discover that Wexford's soft underbelly lay in their full-back line.

Declan Ruth had an uncomfortable experience there, as did newcomer Paul Roche. Long balls from the Dublin half-back line, notably Fallon, always seemed likely to yield some profit.

Five minutes before the half-time break it happened. A long ball from midfielder Declan Qualter broke to Kelly, who buried the sliotar confidently, putting Dublin on level terms.

They even went a point up when O'Carroll added a score but the half finished much like the second would, with a Wexford score, Rory Jacob this time punishing Dublin's lack of certainty under a high ball.

Two points in it at the break and all to play for, they told each other in the dressingrooms.

Dublin believed it and levelled soon after the restart with scores by Curtin and Stuart Mullen.

Then they went into a long valley period where they were beaten to a series of puck-outs, the crisp first-time ground hurling of the early stages went ragged and Wexford hung a necklace of unanswered points on the board.

"We were five points up," noted Meyler. "Mitch Jordan threw a ball into Rory. As simple as that we could have gone eight points up. I think we had 18 wides, which is scandalous at this level. I said before the game a point will do. It's about winning.Wexford winning.

"We are in the Leinster final. We know 18 wides against Kilkenny won't be acceptable."

Wexford's supremacy and late collapse will be factors they will analyse over the next few weeks.

In the end it was Lambert who broke Dublin's hearts. He had done it at under-21 five years ago and he did the same trick again.

"When we were five points up a better team would have buried them" said Diarmuid "Gizzy" Lyng. "We hurled in patches. When we weren't hurling well we weren't hurling at all. We made some fairly basic mistakes, myself included.

"Eighteen wides is a lot but at least we are creating chances. We'd have taken a draw but we were here to win. We won."

That's where you measure from: the final whistle.

WEXFORD: D Fitzhenry; M Travers, D Ruth, P Roche; R Kehoe, K Rossiter, C Kenny; E Quigley (0-1), D Lyng; M Jacob (0-2), D O'Connor (0-1), P Carley (0-1, free); N Higgins (1-0), D Stamp (0-2), R Jacob (1-3, 0-1 free). Subs: R McCarthy for Carley (44 mins); B Lambert (0-4, three frees) for Higgins (48 mins); M Jordan for Stamp (63 mins).

DUBLIN: G Maguire; P Brennan, S Hiney, T Brady; M Carton, R Fallon (0-1, free), D O'Reilly; J Boland, D Qualter; L Ryan, R O'Carroll (1-1), D Curtin (0-4, three frees); J Kelly (1-2), P O'Driscoll, K Flynn (1-0). Subs: G O'Meara for Brennan (20 mins); S Mullen (0-2) for O'Reilly (24 mins); P Carton for Kelly (56 mins); E Carroll for Ryan (64 mins); D O'Dwyer for O'Driscoll (68 mins).

Referee: J Sexton (Limerick)