Davy always gets best out of his teams
Praise from rival manager
MICHEÁL DONOGHUE and Davy Fitzgerald have crossed paths twice in the past twelve months, and the score is evenly poised between the two managers, one win apiece.
Wexford’s victory over Galway in Division 1B of the National League in February was the first indication that something was brewing in the sunny south-east under Fitzgerald’s watch.
Last July, Donoghue’s Galway won an All-Ireland quarter-final in Thurles over a Clare team managed by Fitzgerald, who had minor heart surgery a few days before the game.
The enigmatic Clareman is still unsure if he’ll be on the Croke Park touchline for the Leinster final on Sunday. His eight-week sideline ban ended shortly after he watched his new side’s emphatic win over Kilkenny in the Leinster semi-final from a specially-constructed box in the stand of Innovate Wexford Park.
‘Whatever teams Davy’s been with over the last number of years, he’s always gotten the best out of them,’ Donoghue said.
‘He’s an unbelievable manager. From my own perspective and other managers, it’s great pitting your wits against him. He’s seriously passionate about it. He brings that to the game and to the sideline as well.’
Whoever is defeated on July 2 in Croke Park could meet one of Kilkenny, Tipperary or Waterford coming out of the qualifiers like a steam train in the All-Ireland quarter-finals, in the new Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork.
The Galway manager is under no illustions as to the size of the challenge this weekend, especially as his squad are playing against one of two counties who have beaten them in competitive action in 2017.
Kilkenny saw off Galway in the Walsh Cup decider on February 5, but it was the defeat by Wexford a fortnight later which stung them more.
‘Definitely from our regard, we didn’t underestimate Wexford,’ said Donoghue of that game in Salthill. ‘I think overall, they probably deserved to win in the end.
‘The Limerick game [in the first round of league] was a huge one for them to win. I think they’ve gone on record as saying it and I think once they got over the line against Limerick, it gave them huge confidence. They didn’t fear coming up to play us, and they’ve some exceptional hurlers.’
The provincial semi-final win over Offaly was Galway’s eighth on the trot since the Wexford loss. Although it was a job well done, the squad are sweating over Cathal Mannion and Joseph Cooney’s fitness ahead of the weekend.
Mannion suffered ankle ligament damage before half-time, and Cooney wasn’t risked because of a hamstring injury he sustained in the run-up to the match.
Another prominent Galway forward of recent years who didn’t feature in Portlaoise, or against Dublin in the quarter-final, was Jonathan Glynn. His involvement with the squad has been the subject of many a conversation in the county of late.
The reason we haven’t seen the New York-based hurler since the National League final trouncing of Tipperary, is because of an injury the Ardrahan man picked up in the club championship that required treatment promptly.
‘Johnny had a meniscus operation at the start of June. He’s currently in the States at the minute, working really hard to get back. Timeline on that is hopefully he’ll be able to do some training maybe the week after the Leinster final,’ said Donoghue.
With three of hurling’s heaviest punchers banished to the shark-infested waters of the qualifiers, Galway’s odds on getting their hands on that elusive All-Ireland title have shortened again in recent weeks.
Talk of the Liam MacCarthy Cup coming west after a 29-year hiatus is only that, talk.
‘Obviously there’s a lot of hype about it, but my view on it is unless you’re in the All-Ireland final, you can’t do anything,’ said the Galway manager.
‘There’s no point talking about it unless you’re in it. The aim at the start of the year was about getting to a Leinster final, and then reassessing where we were at. Now that we’re there, obviously we want to go and try to win it, get to August, back into a semi-final.’
Scope for reviewing previous encounters between Galway and Wexford in years gone by isn’t plentiful, but Micheál Donoghue has his own personal experience of coming up against them to draw on.
The Clarinbridge clubman lined out at wing-back in the 1996 All-Ireland semi-final, a game that Galway lost by 2-13 to 3-7. Wexford went on to beat Limerick in the final, putting a halt to what was their own 28-year wait for a Liam MacCarthy.
‘I was hoping that wouldn’t be brought up,’ Donoghue jokingly said when mention of the semi-final was made.
‘I haven’t great memories from then, it was disappointing to lose.’
He will be hoping to be in the midst of making happier ones shortly before 6 p.m. on Sunday evening.