WEXFORD boss Keith Rossiter hailed his men at work after they boosted their survival hopes with a thoroughly deserved win in Ennis.
With nothing to show for their opening three games, Clare selector Ken Ralph admitted that the All-Ireland and National League champions are in grave danger of dropping down to Division 1B.
Superb performances from Séamus Casey, Richie Lawlor, Cathal Dunbar, Cian Byrne and the returning Lee Chin helped the Models pick up their first points in front of 4,641 spectators at Cusack Park.
Undeterred by falling 1-2 to 0-0 behind inside five minutes, Wexford gradually got on top and took a 0-15 to 1-9 lead in at the break.
With a strong wind behind them after the change of ends, the smart money was still on Clare to prevail in this Division 1A basement battle.
But Rossiter’s side were immense throughout the second half as they continued to ensure that the game was played on their terms.
The decisive moment was Casey’s 51st-minute goal, which arrived just after Patrick Crotty had brought Clare back to within a point.
After Casey’s first attempt was blocked by Rory Hayes, the Oylegate-Glenbrien ace beat Eibhear Quilligan at the second time of asking as he finished off a slick move involving Byrne and Damien Reck.
Rossiter said: “Delighted with the work-rate and the work ethic. I wouldn’t have been happy with the first two minutes when they got 1-2 from our own mistakes.
“But in fairness to the lads, they never gave up. It was a great workmanlike performance.”
With John Conlon, Mark Rodgers and David Fitzgerald making their first appearances of the season, the Clare team included nine starters from last summer’s Liam MacCarthy Cup triumph.
There was also a first start of 2025 for Tony Kelly, who inflicted significant early damage while operating at full-forward.
Rodgers played him in to rattle the Wexford net with just 90 seconds played. By the 13th minute, Kelly had already racked up 1-3. However, 17 minutes passed before Clare registered another score from play.
Ralph said: “We had a few guys back today. We had big names but probably no games – you’re going to struggle at times no matter who you are if you’re not match-fit.
“We started fine, we did everything that we needed to do against the wind and we kind of set it up for ourselves. But there was no excuse in the second half.
“They just out-fought us, out-worked us, they won more breaking ball than us, they won more turnovers than us and for a finish they just ran through us.”
The only blemish on Wexford’s afternoon was a late red card shown to Byrne for a pull on Darragh Lohan that caused the Clare defender to be substituted.
While Rossiter had ‘no argument’ with the decision at the time, the Wexford manager intends to review the incident.
He said: “I think the ball was actually in the vicinity. It just looked a bit wild more than anything.
“He might have been blocked and the ball fell around and he pulled. Maybe a leg was in the way of it mid-swing. I need to get a better look at it and we’ll see how we approach that.”
Wexford now turn their attention to Saturday’s visit of Galway to the south-east, while Clare could be doomed should they fail to win in Limerick on Sunday.
Conor Cleary, Diarmuid Ryan, Peter Duggan and Shane O’Donnell are still to return for the Banner ahead of the Munster SHC opener against Cork on April 20.
But with the prospect of relegation looming, Ralph said: “We’re in a spot alright.
“We’ve three games left and all we can do is regroup, kick on, try to win as many of them as we can and see what way the table looks after that.
“Realistically now we’re about eight weeks out from Championship so we kind of have to have one eye on that more than anything else and try to get our ducks in a row for that.
“It was probably a busy off-season for various reasons and boys were coming back in and getting injured, so we’re probably a bit behind where we probably should be or want to be.”
WEXFORD 1-23
CLARE 1-17
WEXFORD: M Fanning; S Donohoe, C Foley, E Ryan; R Lawlor 0-2, D Reck, C McGuckin; C Dunbar 0-2, C Hearne; J O’Connor, L Chin 0-5, 2f, J Redmond 0-1; S Casey 1-3, C Byrne 0-9, 6f, 2 ‘65, K Foley 0-1.
Subs: S Roche for Redmond 52 mins, S Reck for Roche 69, T Kinsella for Casey 75.
CLARE: E Quilligan; Rory Hayes, D Lohan, I McNamara 0-1; C Galvin, J Conlon, A Hogan; C Malone, R Taylor 0-1; D Fitzgerald, M Rodgers, P Crotty 0-1; D Reidy 0-1, T Kelly 1-4, A McCarthy 0-8, 7f, 1’65.
Subs: Ross Hayes for Conlon 40 mins, P Donnellan for Malone 46, R Mounsey 0-1 for Fitzgerald 56, A Shanagher for Rodgers 63, C Leen for 67.REFEREE: T Gleeson (Dublin)
