Tony Kelly catapults Clare past Davy's Wexford, and their critics

1-15 for the captain as Banner move into quarter-finals

Clare's Ryan Taylor shakes off Kevin Foley of Wexford. Picture: INPHO/Lorraine O’Sullivan

CLARE 1-21 WEXFORD 0-17

For the second time in two years, Tony Kelly was at his dazzling best to dump his former manager Davy Fitzgerald’s Wexford out of the Championship.

His five points from play in a 2018 quarter-final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh was an outstanding return, but his 1-15 in Portlaoise on Saturday, 1-6 from play, was otherworldly. So good were two of his first-half points, the media should have paid admission to witness them. Kelly is in the form of his life and he is a cert for a second All-Star.

It was fitting one of his scores was the decisive blow. Up 0-13 to 0-3 at half-time having had a gale bellow behind them, Clare’s lead had only been eroded by two points when Kelly received a ball from Shane O’Donnell following a puckout and beelined for goal. Low and true, that 56th-minute strike ended any hope of a flat Wexford team fighting back.

“That goal by Tony Kelly, say what you like about Tony Kelly and he’s had some good displays, the heart and courage he showed out there, the scores if he got them on a dry day in Thurles or Croke Park you’d say they were incredible,” lauded Davy Fitzgerald. “They were off the charts some of the scores he got.

“The goal he got through the middle, fair play. Normally, we don’t have our sweeper out of place but I was trying to push up a small bit more and he got left that gap and when Tony gets left if Tony is going to do the business.

“Their application was unreal today. Personally, I will be supporting Clare from here on in no matter what the story is and that is 100% the truth. I just want them to keep that application. Not going so direct suits them.”

It was evident both sides were pumped for this do-or-die encounter but Clare more so. Their discipline was better than Wexford’s, as was their execution. In such wild conditions, five wides was an achievement in itself.

Kelly had 18 shots at goal, putting one free wide and another shot although both were low percentage attempts into the wind in the second half. He couldn’t be blamed for trying such was his awesomeness all afternoon.

“Next week I mightn’t hit a barndoor,” he smiled. “That’s just the way conditions are in winter hurling. Look it, sometimes the easier job is to put the ball over the bar. The hardest job is to win puckouts, breaks and putting the shoulder to the wheel. I have to mention Shane O’Donnell every single week. He gets criticised for not scoring but my God himself and Conor Whelan are probably the two best forwards in the country in terms of winning their own ball, work-rate and setting up scores.

“The same with Cathal Malone, I couldn’t say enough about the work-rate of the forwards.”

The more Kelly dominates Clare’s scoring — he has now accounted for over 62% of their total across their three SHC games — the more he will be targeted, but he has never looked more elusive.

Losing Aron Shanagher to a hamstring injury in the warm-up didn’t deter Clare especially having won the toss to play with the gale and they dominated the period after the first-half water break. The second half required composure and they provided that in spades.

“That was in our lads,” remarked Brian Lohan. “There’s a bit of spirit there. They were unlucky not to have a better result against Laois the last day. I thought we played well and unfortunately conceded goals but Laois aren’t a bad team. That result stood to us very well today.”

Wexford had one sniff of goal in the second half but attempting to win from distance was a futile exercise when in 16 minutes against the wind Clare had matched what they scored for the entirety of the first half.

The scoreline improved from the losers’ perspective because unlike the Leinster semi-final they didn’t fold even when the result was obvious.

“I was very cross with them after the Galway game because they didn’t fight but they fought today,” reviewed Fitzgerald. “They just weren’t good enough.”

With captain David McInerney back from suspension for the quarter-finals and a slight chance John Conlon may make the bench, Clare’s tails will be up.

Afterwards, Kelly spoke of the lack of credit that fuelled them: “A lot of talk was that Wexford were going to get the show on the road this week and build up their own momentum. We were probably written off, fairly or unfairly, but we knew ourselves that there was a performance in us.

“At the start of the year, we were moving nicely. The lay-off then didn’t really help. Last week, a lot was written about us only beating Laois by a point but coming in Tuesday we felt it was a small bit disrespectful firstly towards Laois, secondly towards ourselves. A win is a win in Championship no matter who you beat.”

The 60-second report

IT MATTERED:

The Tony Kelly goal. There were signs before it that with their wind-assisted 10-point lead at half-time and good start to the second half, Clare wouldn’t need it but Kelly’s 56th-minute finish, ably assisted by Shane O’Donnell, completed the job.

CAN'T IGNORE:

Davy Fitzgerald’s post-match remarks will be cynically viewed as a means of distracting from the result. He acknowledged his team deservedly lost. A lot of the heat he and his father Pat have received in his native county, some of the online abuse which is the subject of a criminal case, was projected in his words.

GOOD DAY:

Clare have received a lot of criticism since that second half against Limerick. Beating Munster opposition would be something but back-to-back victories can’t be sniffed at.

BAD DAY:

Something wasn’t right in the Galway game and here, as much as they didn’t quit, Wexford were so much in Clare’s wake. Fitzgerald may have brought them as far as he can.

PHYSIO ROOM:

Aron Shanagher had to cry off just before throw-in after injuring his hamstring in the warm-up. Brian Lohan said John Conlon is back training and moving well but has yet to be involved in contact so is an unlikely runner in the quarter-final.

SIDELINE SMARTS:

As Fitzgerald said afterwards, Clare played short. Their attempts to play long with the wind in the first quarter did not work but playing more thoughtful hurling and shadowing Wexford’s own possession game worked in their favour.

BEST ON SHOW:

We could repeat Tony Kelly’s name the 16 times and it still wouldn’t do the man justice to the 16 times he scored or his influence in this game. No other hurler in the country touches him right now.

MAN IN THE MIDDLE:

Why it took Liam Gordan so long to book Joe O’Connor and why he booked Colin Guilfoyle with him is anyone’s guess but he handled this game reasonably well. The nine yellow cards apart from Guilfoyle were justified.

NEXT UP:

Having come through the two rounds of qualifiers, Clare face one of the provincial runners-up next weekend.

Scorers for Clare: T Kelly (1-15, 0-8 frees, 1 65); J McCarthy (0-2); J Malone, C Guilfoyle, D Ryan, D Fitzgerald (0-1 each).

Scorers for Wexford: P Morris (0-6, 5 frees); S Murphy, P Foley (free) (0-3 each); R O’Connor (0-2); C McDonald, D Dunne, K Foley (0-1 each).

CLARE: E Quilligan; R Hayes, C Cleary, S Morey; S O’Halloran, A McCarthy, P O’Connor; C Malone, D Fitzgerald; J McCarthy, T Kelly (c), D Reidy; C Guilfoyle, S O’Donnell, R Taylor.

Subs: D Ryan for C Guilfoyle (h-t); P Fitzpatrick for J McCarthy (60); A Cunningham for D Reidy (68); C McInerney for R Taylor (70+4).

WEXFORD: M Fanning; S Donohue, L Ryan, J O’Connor; K Foley; D O’Keeffe, M O’Hanlon (c), P Foley; S Murphy, P Morris; L Óg McGovern, C McDonald, A Nolan; R O’Connor, J O’Connor.

Subs: D Reck for S Donohue (38); L Chin for Jack O’Connor (56); M Dwyer for L Óg McGovern (57); D Dunne for A Nolan (61); S Reck for Joe O’Connor (65).

Referee: L Gordan (Galway).