Ruth injury and missed goal chance was our downfall, says Wexford manager

THE loss through injury of centre-back Declan Ruth, allied to the failure of centre-forward Eoin Quigley to convert a gilt-edged goal chance, were the main reasons Wexford lost claimed manager Seamus Murphy.

“Declan is an inspirational player and when he pulled pulling a hamstring in the opening half it was a disaster. Then when we really looked like staging a comeback in the second half Eoin’s shot was saved by Damien Fitzgerald.”

“At this level, setbacks like that can have a disastrous effect and that was certainly the case for us,” said the Wexford boss.

He added: “We won the toss and played against the wind, but held our own in the opening quarter. Then we lost Declan and Clare opened up daylight between us, particularly after Alan Markham converted the most influential score of the game.”

“That said though, I was not without hope at half-time, and really felt we had a chance of turning things around even though the scoreboard didn’t look too healthy from our point of view.”

“If we had succeeded in scoring a goal maybe things would have been different, but in our efforts to narrow the gap by scoring a goal we squandered the opportunity to hit over five or six points.”

Murphy was at a loss to explain his side’s dip in form following their stirring Leinster final show-down against Kilkenny: “I don’t honestly know what went wrong, we prepared as well as we did for the Leinster final and there was no extra tension but we didn’t perform at the level I expected.

“But all credit to Clare. Many said that their more established players like Brian Lohan and Seanie McMahon would be over-run on the open spaces of Croke Park. They certainly silenced their critics in no uncertain manner.”

“Both were fantastic, as was the whole Clare defence and if they strike another day like this they will be up for the All-Ireland.”

“There is still a lot of life left in this Clare team and they will make it tough for the rest of the teams left in the championship,” concluded the Wexford manager.