The side managed by Gerry O’Connor and Noel Moloney showed all their experience to complete a three-in-a-row at this grade and add to the senior medals that many of them possess from last year too.

Tony Kelly was magnificent, especially in the first half, when he scored five of his seven points from play. Notably, one of his second-half efforts came late on though, when Clare were under the cosh.

Colm Galvin was dominant around the middle throughout and apart from hurling a mountain of ball, scored four points. Two of those were the last two scores of the game that helped to kill off their gutsy opponents.

Clare showed their threat almost straight away when Jack O’Connor was forced to scramble clear in his own area after Aaron Cunningham looked like goaling.

Jack Guiney finally opened the scoring from a free in the sixth minute but Kelly responded immediately after a sumptuous hand-pass from Peter Duggan, before Cunningham put Clare ahead after being found by a quick sideline cut.

Guiney equalised from a placed ball before the game’s first key sequence of events took place.

It started with a goal chance for Galway but Kevin Foley thundered a shot off the crossbar from 18m after a heroic burst out of defence by Liam Ryan. Conor McDonald’s follow-up shot was blocked and Clare cleared.

When the sliotar finds its way to Shane O’Donnell, it spells danger, and the 2013 senior final hero beat two defenders before clamly hand-passing across the goals to give David Reidy the simplest of finishes for a goal.

Guiney steadied the ship from another free before Cunningham wasted another goal chance when letting the sliotar get away from him after Oliver O’Leary saved from Jamie Shanahan. Wexford went straight up the field and Gary Moore pointed from tight on the left sideline to leave just one between them.

But Shanahan was finding a lot of space edging forward and he took a pass from commanding centre-back Conor Cleary to slot.

Wexford couldn’t get McDonald into the game, largely due to the dominance of Galvin, Kelly and Eoin Enright around the middle.

Kelly was on fire but Wexford stayed in touch until crucially and significantly, the Banner boys raised the tempo in the closing minutes, conscious that a two-point advantage with the wind might not be sufficient. The champions finished with three points in two minutes.

Cunningham supplied the first before Kelly brought his tally to five from play with a brace to leave his team leading by 1-8 to 0-6 at half time.

McDonald was back at full-forward for the start of the second half and he showed all his strength to gather possession, shrug off Jack Browne and rifle a shot inches over the bar with just 10 seconds elapsed.

The big man was fouled less than a minute later by Browne, who earned a yellow card for his troubles, and Guiney reduced the margin to a goal from the 20m line. Galvin and Conor Devitt swapped points and it was all to play for.

But once more, Clare sensed the danger and found another gear. Bobby Duggan popped a free after a foul on Kelly and after Shane O’Gorman wasted an excellent chance of a point, Cunningham finally got the goal he threatened in the opening half with a splendid finish directly off the hurley after a pass from Duggan.

Galvin fired over from the left after a wonderful pass from Kelly and it was 2-11 to 0-9 with just over 21 minutes remaining

JJ Doyle’s crew weren’t done yet though and not even having Guiney’s penalty saved by Browne disheartened them. Guiney drove over the 65 but Gearoid O’Connell responded to restore the eight-point gap.

It was vital that Wexford strike back and they did. Guiney raced through the heart of the Clare defence and though his hand-pass didn’t find the mark initially, substitute David Dunne picked it up, wormed his way around five defenders and found the net.

In a blink, Bobby Duggan had three points and Kelly his sixth from play as the gap was stretched to nine

Wexford have outstanding heart though and Dunne pounced for a break off McDonald for his second goal. The full-forward then found the net two minutes later and it was a four-point game with six minutes remaining.

That was still the margin with a minute remaining when Peter Sutton had a chance of a goal but his shoot flew inches wide of the upright. Instead Galvin slotted two points and Clare were home.

SCORERS:

CLARE: T Kelly 0-7; B Duggan 0-5(4fs); C Galvin 0-4; D Reidy, A Cunningham 1-1 each; J Shanahan, G O’Connell 0-1 each

WEXFORD: J Guiney 0-7(6fs, 1 65); D Dunne 2-0; C McDonald 1-1; G Moore 0-2; C Devitt 0-1

CLARE: K Hogan, J Colleran, J Browne, S Morey, G O’Connell, C Cleary, J Shanahan, C Galvin, E Enright, B Duggan, T Kelly, P Duggan, S O’Donnell, A Cunningham, D Reidy. Subs: C O’Connell for G O’Connell (49), A O’Neill for O’Donnell (55), P Sutton for Cash (57)

WEXFORD: O O’Leary, A Kenny, L Ryan, E Conroy, J White, S O’Gorman, J O’Connor, A Nolan, C Devitt, J Guiney, G Moore, P Foley, R Clarke, C McDonald, K Foley. Subs: J Cash for Moore blood (20-21), D Dunne for O’Connor (35), Cash for White (42), C O’Leary for Moore (52)

REFEREE: C McAllister (Cork)