Donal Burke's 13-point haul elevated Dublin to a hugely significant win in the Leinster SHC, leaving Micheál Donoghue's men in prime position to advance to the knock-out stages of the All-Ireland series.
Opting to play at Croke Park instead of their Parnell Park base, the Dubs rose to the occasion, albeit in front of a relatively poor crowd of 9,125, and secured back-to-back wins in the championship.
It means that if results in the remaining games pan out as anticipated, with Kilkenny and Galway claiming the top two positions, then Dublin will steal third place in the table ahead of Wexford.
Darragh Egan's Wexford will kick themselves for being so wasteful with 19 wides overall costing them dearly.
They never led in the game but got it back to level terms on a number of occasions including in the 74th minute following three points in a row from the excellent Rory O'Connor and Conor McDonald.
But two Burke points from frees for Dublin in the 75th and 76th minutes ultimatley proved the insurance scores in a dramatic conclusion.
Dublin will return to action against Kilkenny, away, on Saturday week in the penultimate round before closing out the group campaign with another Croke Park game, against Galway.
As for Wexford, they're under real pressure now to not just beat Westmeath on 21 May but to also overcome Kilkenny the following weekend.
Alex Considine's return was the only change to the Dublin team that comfortably defeated Westmeath at Parnell Park last weekend.
Paul Crummey was the attacker to lose out though the Lucan Sarsfields man came on after just eight minutes for the injured Ronan Hayes.
Crummey got on the scoresheet late in the opening half too as Dublin hit the interval with a narrow 1-09 to 0-10 lead.
Cian O'Sullivan's 19th-minute goal was the difference at that stage, the St Brigid's man rising highest amongst a group of players at the Davin End and redirecting Donal Burke's long delivery to the net.
Dublin led from the opening score of the game, a Paddy Doyle point in the first minute, until early in the second-half but were never out of the woods in a tit-for-tat scoring encounter.
They raced into an early 0-04 to 0-01 lead but a series of Wexford picked points, mainly from captain Lee Chin, kept them well in contention.
A terrific Rory O'Connor point for Wexford in the 17th minute left just a point between them, 0-06 to 0-05.
O'Sullivan's goal arrived shortly after and gave Dublin a vital buffer though Wexford closed out the half with scores from Richie Lawlor and Jack O'Connor to keep it interesting.
Egan's visitors set up in counter-attacking mode with Kevin Foley acting as their seventh defender. Cathal Dunbar, wearing number 15, dropped deep to midfield alongside Richie Lawlor, leaving the Slaneysiders with a two-man full-forward line.
Dublin, meanwhile, were left with Conor Burke as their spare defender.
Watch the Full-Time Highlights of @DubGAAOfficial v @OfficialWexGAA in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship here on #GAANOW
— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 6, 2023
Full-Time Score:
Dublin: 1-22
Wexford: 0-23 pic.twitter.com/3LQZ7fcV7H
Wexford returned for the second-half with more energy and attacking gusto, reeling off the first three points through Chin and Simon Donohoe.
Dublin then hit the afterburners again and approaching the hour mark they had opened up a sizeable five-point lead, 1-18 to 0-16.
Mark Grogan, former Cork senior Chris O'Leary and sub Sean Currie were among the Dublin scorers.
But with Rory O'Connor coming into the game strongly for Wexford and McDonald proving a handful after coming on, the 2019 provincial winners wiped out the deficit deep into stoppage time.
It looked as if Wexford's momentum might just swing it for them but those two late Burke points did the trick for Dublin.
Dublin: Sean Brennan; Eoghan O'Donnell, Paddy Smyth; Conor Burke (0-01); Conor Donohoe, Paddy Doyle (0-01), Daire Gray; Mark Grogan (0-01), Chris O'Leary (0-01); Danny Sutcliffe (0-01), Donal Burke (0-13, 0-10f), Cian Boland; Cian O'Sullivan (1-01), Alex Considine, Ronan Hayes.
Subs: Paul Crummey (0-02) for Hayes 8, Sean Currie (0-01) for Considine 51, Darragh Power for Grogan 59, Dara Purcell for O'Sullivan 74.
Wexford: James Lawlor; Simon Donohoe (0-01), Liam Ryan, Shane Reck; Kevin Foley; Conor Devitt (0-01), Matthew O'Hanlon, Damien Reck; Cathal Dunbar (0-02), Richie Lawlor (0-01); Jack O'Connor (0-01), Lee Chin (0-08, 0-06f), Oisin Foley (0-02); Liam Og McGovern, Rory O'Connor (0-05, 0-03f).
Subs: Joe O'Connor for D Reck 42, Conor McDonald (0-02) for R Lawlor 44, Mikie Dwyer for J O'Connor 49, Ian Carty for Ryan 55, Ross Banville for Dunbar 71.
Referee: Thomas Walsh (Waterford)
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