The beaten Munster finalists had grabbed the first two scores after the interval to stretch ahead by 1-8 to 0-6, with eye-catching wing-forward and captain Harry Doherty tagging on a free, while wing-back Dara Kennedy added his second score in a counter-attack after combining with centre-back James Cullinan.
But Wexford then came with an increasingly promising surge which put Michael Jacob’s charges seriously in the frame to land the county’s first semi-final spot since 2019.
Seán O’Brien brought his consistently excellent form into this seventh game of Wexford’s campaign, and after posting five frees in the first-half, he got on the end of a long delivery to shave the gap to 1-8 to 0-7 on 37 minutes.
Darren Rossiter and Colin Carley were taking a lot of punishment, forcing several of the frees between them.
Rossiter did really well to beat his marker to a delivery into the left corner by Jack Nolan on 38 minutes and force the first of two quick frees converted by O’Brien which had the gap down to 1-8 to 0-9.
And the second of those came from Wexford’s own 65-yard line, with the Rathgarogue-Cushinstown teenager confidently bisecting the town-end uprights.
O’Brien then took a blow from the Clare centre-back which earned the aggressor a yellow card and allowed Wexford’s talisman to narrow the margin to 1-8 to 0-10 on 42 minutes, with Clare under mounting pressure and Wexford on the brink of really putting their foot on their throats.
A clearance from Wexford centre-back Ryan Donohoe from the right wing some 35 metres inside their territory saw Colin Carley gain possession and race past three Clare players. Two of his opponents stayed hot on his heels before another closed in as Carley loomed large on goal.
He was closed down as he went for the onion-sack from the right edge of the square and then resorted to having a kicked effort which went harmlessly across the face of goal and wide.
Unfortunately, in his focused bid to further rock Clare, Carley was blind to the fact that Seán O’Brien had been left unmarked just to the left of him on the front edge of the square after the top scorer’s marker was also attracted to Carley’s surge.
It would have been a nailed-on goal for O’Brien, but once that golden opportunity eluded the purple and golds, Clare rifled over three points within the space of the 46th and 47th minutes to lift the siege and regain a confidence which had been draining from their game after Wexford really put the heat on between the 37th and 45th minutes.
Midfielder Graham Ball, Harry Doherty and substitute Ryan Hayes suddenly pushed Clare ahead by 1-11 to 0-10, and last year’s all-conquerors in the grade – Doherty and Conor Ralph being the only survivors from that squad – had five more points without reply by the 54th minute to effectively end Wexford’s ambitions at 1-16 to 0-10.
That said, Seán O’Brien was unfortunate to strike an upright from a free before Clare added those five points.
Wexford were gutsy, and O’Brien converted after enduring a hit on 56 minutes, before Colin Carley had his second after being supplied by substitute Seán Hyland and beating two men (1-16 to 0-12).
Midfielder Jack Nolan stormed through on 60 minutes, but unfortunately couldn’t get sufficient power behind a shot that was saved comfortably.
Clare, meanwhile, put the ribbons on their passage to a semi-final against Leinster champions Kilkenny when cutting out some danger at the back.
A long angled clearance found Liam Murphy out on the right, from where he dashed in and, despite being shadowed, slammed an angled finish to the net three minutes into added-time, before Seán O’Brien grabbed a consolation pointed free.
The first-half had been a fairly tepid affair dominated by defences, although Clare led by 0-4 to nil after eleven minutes through Doherty, Matthew Corbett (free), defender Dara Kennedy, and a Doherty free.
Darren Rossiter won a free for O’Brien to end Wexford’s impasse on eleven minutes, and Colin Carley had the gap down to 0-4 to 0-2 after 20 minutes when Rossiter and captain Jack Dunne switched play from left to right.
Corbett responded from a free before, with Colin Carley prominent, O’Brien narrowed matters to 0-5 to 0-4 after 27 minutes with a couple of frees.
There had been a little bit more sparkle about the Clare attack, and they eventually capitalised seconds later when full-forward Paul Rodgers flashed to the net after Tadhg Lohan was blocked after dashing through the rearguard (1-5 to 0-4).
In fairness, Wexford responded encouragingly with two of the last three scores of the half, with Seán O’Brien bringing the margin down to 1-6 to 0-6 at the break.
Wexford: Paddy Quigley (Bannow-Ballymitty); Ian Reilly (Rathnure), Eoin Hughes (Ballynastragh Gaels), Ben Harpur (Oulart-The Ballagh); Cathal Sinnott (Glynn-Barntown), Ryan Donohoe (Rapparees), Oisín Moore (Oulart-The Ballagh); Jack Nolan (Oylegate-Glenbrien), Kevin O’Mahony (St. Martin’s); Conor Fanning (Liam Mellows), Jack Dunne (Oulart-The Ballagh, capt.), Colin Carley (Glynn-Barntown, 0-2), Adam O’Connell-Byrne (Askamore), Seán O’Brien (Rathgarogue-Cushinstown, 0-11, 10 frees), Darren Rossiter (Gusserane). Subs. – Jamie Kennedy (Naomh Éanna) for O’Connell-Byrne (37), Rhys Wickham (Oulart-The Ballagh) for Fanning (40), Seán Hyland (Rapparees) for O’Mahony (48), Paddy Keavey (Ballygarrett) for Moore (56), also Martin Dempsey (Oulart-The Ballagh), Peter Wickham (Oulart-The Ballagh), Bobby Murphy (Bannow-Ballymitty), Ciarán Gethings (Ballynastragh Gaels), Jack Gethings (Ballynastragh Gaels).
Clare: Matthew Crotty; Darren Moroney, Seán McNamara, Seán Óg Kilkenny; Rian Mulcahy, James Cullinan, Dara Kennedy (0-2); Graham Ball (0-1), Matthew Corbett (0-2 frees); Patrick Finneran, Tadhg Lohan, Harry Doherty (capt., 0-7, 3 frees); Conor Ralph, Paul Rodgers (1-0), Liam Murphy (1-1). Subs. – Darragh McNamara for Lohan (39), Jerry O’Connor (0-2 frees) for Ralph (45), Ryan Hayes (0-1) for Corbett (45), Darragh Ball for G. Ball (49), Éanna Collins for S. McNamara (59), Evan Crimmins for Kilkenny (60).
Referee: Conor Daly (Kildare).
