Wexford left it late to seal victory against promotion favourites Galway in their Division 1B clash at Pearse Stadium on a scoreline of 1-21 to 3-13.
Joe Canning returned from injury for the first time since the All-Ireland semi-final loss to Tipperary in August and blasted home a penalty shortly after coming on.
That score put Galway six points up, but Wexford responded superbly and clawed their way back, drawing level in the closing stages before pushing on to win a thriller.
Galway managed just a point after Canning’s goal as Davy Fitzgerald’s men made a huge stride towards winning promotion.
Wexford finished the opening half strongly with five unanswered points but they still trailed by 2-07 to 0-11 having played with the diagonal wind behind them.
It wasn’t surprising given what was involved that neither side stood on ceremony in the opening half and by the interval three from Wexford and two from Galway were booked by Cork referee Cathal McAllister.
Galway, after a facile win over Offaly last week, hit the ground running in foggy conditions with early points from Conor Cooney and Conor Whelan.
But Wexford, buoyed by that opening round win over Limerick, responded well and struck three in a row from Barry Carton, Matthew O’Hanlon and Lee Chin to lead by 0-03 to 0-02 after nine minutes.
Jason Flynn tied the match before Conor McDonald and David Redmond made it 0-05 to 0-03 for Wexford.
Galway then took over with Joseph Cooney slotting home a goal after a delivery by Conor Cooney after 16 minutes.
Five minutes from the break Conor Cooney was also the provider in setting Johnny Coen up for Galway’s second goal to lead by 2-07 to 0-06 approaching the interval.
Wexford finished the half strongly with Diarmuid O’Keeffe becoming the third member of their half-back to score when he landed a good point.
And by the break all six Wexford forwards found the target when Aidan Nolan pointed as Davy Fitzgerald’s men finished the half with five unanswered points to leave it 2-07 to 0-11 at the interval.
The sides exchanged points twice in the opening ten minutes of the second-half with Chin and Paul Morris finding the range for Wexford and Flynn and Conor Cooney scoring for Galway.
There was a goal between them when Galway sprung Canning and he was on just a minute when he blasted a penalty to the roof after Flynn was fouled to make it 3-12 to 0-15 after 54 minutes.
But Wexford hit back and after McDonald pointed another free, goalkeeper Mark Fanning went forward to drill a penalty low to the net after Chin was fouled.
That left it 3-12 to 1-16 with 13 minutes left as the intensity rose for the crowd of 7,006.
Great scenes here on the pitch in Pearse Stadium NÍ neart go cur le chéile, buachaillí Loch Garman le croí agaus le lámh pic.twitter.com/l0jozF0SWw
— Wexford GAA (@OfficialWexGAA) February 19, 2017
It was all Wexford after that, with Galway only managing a free from 100 metres from goalkeeper Colm Callanan.
Chin kept spraying intelligent ball into the Wexford attack and as the free mounted McDonald drew Wexford level heading into stoppage time.
And they didn’t settle for the draw with McDonald then shooting two points in the dying moments, much to the delight of the big travelling support.
Wexford: M Fanning (1-00, 1-00 pen); E Moore, L Ryan, J Breen; S Donohoe (0-01), M O’Hanlon (0-01), D O’Keefe (0-01); S Murphy, B Carton (0-01); A Nolan (0-02), D Redmond (0-01), L Chin (0-03, 0-02f); P Morris (0-03), J O’Connor, C McDonald (0-07, 0-05f).
Subs: H Kehoe for O’Connor (42), P Doran (0-01) for Redmond (51), A Maddock for Carton (55), R Kehoe for Moore (59), D Dunne for Nolan (62)
Galway: C Callanan (0-01, 0-01f); J Hanbury, A Harte, Daithi Burke; G McInerney, A Tuohy, M Donoghue; J Coen (1-00), David Burke (0-01); C Whelan (0-01), D Glennon, J Flynn (0-05, 0-02f, 0-01 ’65); C Cooney (0-03), J Cooney (1-01), B Molloy (0-01).
Subs: J Canning (1-00, 1-00 pen) for Molloy (51), R Burke for McInerney (55), N Burke for Glennon (71)
Referee: Cathal McAllister (Cork).
What's next: Galway will be hoping to get their campaign back on track when they welcome Laois to Pearse Stadium on Sunday 5 March, while on the same day Wexford will have a home tie against Kerry.
