A stellar display from Galway talisman Cathal Mannion exposed Wexford's frailties at Pearse Stadium on Saturday, but Model County manager Keith Rossiter freely admitted that his side were self-saboteurs in their own downfall.
Having played against the wind in the first half, the home side led by 0-15 to 0-11 at the interval.
However, the Tribesmen asserted their dominance on the scoreboard after the restart to run out 2-16 to 1-29 winners in this Leinster SHC encounter.
Cathal Dunbar and Cian Byrne's second-half goals for the visitors came very much against the run of play, with a second consecutive defeat now leaving their chances of progression from the group phase hanging by the most frayed of threads.
Searingly honest in his post-match appraisal of what transpired in Salthill, Rossiter said: "It's a heavy one to take. It one that we would have fully believed that we could have got over the line on, but not the way we hurled.
"That's just the honest reflection on it.
"We didn't win any clean possession from our own puckouts and the fundamentals of hurling were poor today.
"I'd say to watch it, it was nearly chalk and cheese to two weeks ago against Dublin – the ball to hand was a lot better. The picking, little things – there were misplaced passes, tackles.
"It's just not good enough at this level.
"That's the hardest thing to take, because I know the lads are a lot better than that."
Those goals in the second half offered Wexford a lifeline they scarcely deserved, but their level of performance meant capitalising on the majors was a distant prospect.
"We were back in the game, but you mishandle the ball, misplace a pass, mishit a ball.
"All the simple things of hurling, we just didn't get right today.
"I'm not happy as a manager and coach, not looking forward to looking back on it, but we have to learn from that as well.
"The championship is still there. It's obviously gone out of our own hands, which is not the way you want it to be, but it's still there and we still have two games to play.
"Offaly come to town next weekend. Another tough battle next weekend, but we have time to get it right.
"I fully back the players to do that and we need to drive on now and regroup and get going again."
Having won the coin toss, Galway boss Micheál Donoghue's decision to play against the wind in the opening period bore fruit.
"Down through the years, it's been nip and tuck between both teams, so we knew it was going to be similar today," he said.
"I thought when we played against the wind in the first half, it probably gave us a great foundation.
"The lads worked really hard and we went in a few points up.
"People watching on TV maybe didn't appreciate the severity of the wind. It did have an impact on the game.
"Wexford, in fairness, probably started better and got the two goals, which we were disappointed in with some of the defending.
"Equally, there's a total acknowledgement that there's a lot of young fellas in there learning their trade. Hopefully they'll learn from that.
"I think what was most important for us and the teams was the response after that – they pushed on to the end and pushed it out and got a good win."
Mannion's man-of-the-match performance, which yielded 11 converted frees and six more points from play was described by Donoghue as "savage", but the Galway defence also came in for praise.
"There were a lot of really, really good, solid performances," the Galway manager said.
"In the first half, the backs to a man were really good. They had to be against the wind and the amount of ball coming down on them.
"For Cathal, he's really taken on a leadership mantle of this team and he's leading by example, and that was reflected on the scoreboard for him today."
