HARD-WORKING DAVY IS MARRIED TO CLUB ROLE
Fitzgerald elevated dedication to his home club to intense level ahead of the Clare County final
ONLY Davy Fitzgerald could mark his wedding by taking a training session for his home club Sixmilebridge the following morning.
This is the same man who shortened a hospital stay after heart surgery to take his place on the sideline during his time as Clare manager. Whose passion for the game ensures that hurling is invariably intertwined with even the major events in his life.
And so, after Fitzgerald tied the knot with long-time partner Sharon last Friday, any honeymoon would have to revolve around the build-up to the Clare county final.
Fitzgerald was in the midst of his third season with the Wexford senior hurlers when news filtered out of his addition to a second coaching ticket — this time back home.
On a Friday evening in late January, former Clare hurling selector Tim Crowe was ratified as the Sixmilebridge senior hurling manager for the forthcoming season, with Fitzgerald announced as coach. After taking charge of LIT during his first two years with Wexford, he is well used to juggling different balls in the air.
But it was Séadna Morey, speaking on The GAA Hour this week, who revealed the full extent of his commitment. ‘It’s been absolutely amazing. We were all well aware he is the Wexford manager [and] the time he puts in to that. To accept that role, and train his club while still training the county team — in fairness we hold him in such high regard for that.
‘It just shows what a ’Bridge man he is to come back and train us. He was four nights away with Wexford, he spent the other three nights with Sixmilebridge. That just goes to show what type of man he is.
‘It’s been brilliant. The players are delighted with the influence he had on them. He’s been incredible. It just shows the work ethic, desire and passion he has for the game.’
So even when he got hitched at Dromoland Castle, Fitzgerald didn’t miss a session. ‘He got married there last Friday — he was training the ’Bridge team on the Saturday,’ said Morey.
‘He’s absolutely incredible. The work he has put into it is insane. It’s another incentive to get over the line, for him, the amount of time he has put into it. It just goes to show how passionate he is for the game. A brilliant club man to come back and do that for us.’
Tomorrow, Fitzgerald and Sixmilebridge get the opportunity to round off their own special journey when they take on Cratloe at Cusack Park in the county final, the game being screened live on TG4.
And yet there are so many layers to the story of Clare hurling in recent weeks. Add in the whole management saga and this is one potboiler that has hogged the headlines.
Morey, after all, is part of the county hurling squad who released their own statement this week.
The statement was highly critical of the slow process in selecting a management team for the 2020 season, and the treatment of Donal Moloney, who opted out of the process — the support clearly not there at the top to see the joint manager with Gerry O’Connor stay on in an individual capacity.
But given that Davy’s father Pat is the long-standing full-time county secretary, any criticism of the process is in a way a criticism of the latter.
A decision was meant to be made on the senior job until Wednesday night’s board meeting took direction from Scariff — the club of Moloney — to the effect that the interview process for the job would be reopened. And with an extended deadline of applications of October 21.
Up to that point, Louis Mulqueen and Brian Lohan were the two front-runners with talk of Anthony Daly being on the Lohan ticket.
Clare and Galway are the only top-tier hurling counties who don’t have a manager in place ahead of next season and the
protracted nature of the process in Clare has led to various shots being fired.
Not for the first time, Ger Loughnane took out his double barrel and took aim at the Fitzgeralds — father and son. He claimed that Pat has ‘been there too long and has too much power’.
Which in turn prompted Davy to blast back, describing the man who guided him to double All-Ireland success in 1995 and ’97 as ‘out of touch’, adding that ‘I don’t think he has Clare interests at heart’.
Factor in Lohan’s public fall-out with Davy and there is a worrying sense that it’s all about taking sides as far as the future of Clare hurling is concerned.
During the week, old footage from the 2000 Clare county final went up on the official website via GAA NOW. Interestingly, some of the faces were oh-so-familiar. There’s a clip of Sixmilebridge goalkeeper Davy coming all the way downfield to blaze a penalty to the back of the net, before making that trademark dash at breakneck speed back to his own goalmouth. Then, making a stunning save from a similar deadball situation for Éire Óg.
At another stage, the camera pans to the stand where his father Pat is watching on.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.