Déise and Davy came of age in time together
HE wasn’t their first choice. He wasn’t even on the shortlist. When the Waterford players were pondering who was to replace Justin McCarthy, after the midsummer heave in 2008, Davy Fitzgerald didn’t even enter the equation. As Dan Shanahan would relate in his autobiography, If You Don’t Know Me, Don’t Judge Me: ‘We were thinking Donal O’Grady, Nicky English, Liam Griffin, Anthony Daly or John McIntyre. The usual suspects that come up whenever there’s a high-profile hurling job on offer.’
But the Championship season was in full swing and the county board had to deal with the perception that this group of Waterford players were hard to handle and had shafted their previous manager. Nobody, it seemed, wanted the job.
But Fitzgerald was straining at the leash for a shot at the big-time. He had led Limerick IT to Fitzgibbon Cup success, had coached Clare Under-21s and a few club sides. Waterford was his chance to prove himself. And over three-and-a-half years, he did just that.
During his time in charge, Fitzgerald led Waterford to an AllIreland semi-final, at least, every year and claimed a Munster title in 2010. The freshness of his voice resurrected their 2008 season from the rubble and saw the county reach their first All-Ireland final since 1963.
It didn’t all go swimmingly. Fitzgerald had a tetchy relationship with some of the older players. Shanahan freely admits in his autobiography that they didn’t see eye-to-eye, and that strain became more pronounced in 2009 when Fitzgerald ratcheted training up a notch.
On the Laochra Gael documentary about his glittering career, Paul Flynn took issue with some of Fitzgerald’s preparation for the 2008 All-Ireland final, which ended in a 23-point win for Kilkenny.
‘We were climbing, canoeing and jumping off the pier in Carlingford,’ Flynn said. ‘Meanwhile, Kilkenny were playing six 50-minute matches of hard hurling against each other.’
John Mullane has previously stated that his relationship with Fitzgerald as manager was ‘awkward and stand-offish.’
But others responded to Fitzgerald, particularly the younger players. Noel Connors recalled this past week how the Wexford manager had enough faith in him to throw in the corner-back against as gifted a forward as Limerick’s Andrew O’Shaughnessy for his Championship debut in 2009.
And that underlines one defining trait of Fitzgerald’s management, which has subsequently cropped up in Clare and Wexford. If he believes in you, you will run through walls for him.
As he scans the opposition for tomorrow’s All-Ireland quarterfinal, Fitzgerald will see seven Waterford players that got their start under him. Connors, the Fives brothers, the Mahony brothers, Maurice Shanahan and Stephen O’Keeffe. All seven have been key to how Waterford have developed in the six years since Fitzgerald has departed.
That’s hardly a surprise. It has been noted that Fitzgerald and Derek McGrath are cut from the same tactical cloth. Indeed, Fitzgerald tried to get McGrath in as a selector during his final two years with Waterford. The pair have remained friendly. After enduring a disappointing first season in charge in 2014, the Déise boss is understood to have met Fitzgerald to see where he could push on.
That illustrates that there is still plenty of goodwill towards Fitzgerald in Waterford. Even though his final season was tarnished by the concession of seven goals to Tipperary in the 2011 Munster final, there’s a recognition that he took on the job when few others wanted it.
Fitzgerald will always be grateful to those who gave him his first opportunity at inter-county level. Speaking before his thenClare team faced Waterford in last year’s League final, Fitzgerald insisted that he had nothing but good memories of his time in the county.
‘I would have a soft spot for them because I was down with them for a number of years,’ Fitzgerald said in May of last year.
‘They treated me very well. I can’t say anything bad about them because whenever I go down there I get treated with massive respect and I like that.’
If Fitzgerald helped to develop young players in Waterford, there’s no doubt that he too developed as a manager during his time with the team. He knew not to repeat the mistakes before the 2008 final when Clare reached the All-Ireland in 2013.
In Waterford, he did most of the coaching. But by the time he reached Clare, he had learnt to delegate to the likes of Donal Óg Cusack and Paul Kinnerk. And he did likewise in Wexford this season — but that was also down to circumstances because of his eight-week suspension.
Even if it came from left-field, it’s clear that Waterford and Fitzgerald were good for each other. They met at a time when they both needed each other. And for a short period of time, they got the very best out of each other.
‘I would have a soft spot for Waterford’