‘WE’VE COME A LONG WAY’

‘That’s just what happened. We fought them for 60 minutes. Tipperary came up to blow us out of the water but they did not achieve that. The lads responded, and it was only when we lost our shape, just two points down and seeking those crucial scores, that left the space. Leave that type of space inside and Tipp will punish you.’

Reflecting back to the incident that saw James Breen clearly fouled twice prior to their second goal, Fitzgerald said: ‘The reaction was warranted. A decision like that can turn a whole game. When Tipp start to get a blitz on you, you just have to, just try to make sure I could lift my lads a small bit. They responded after that, which was no harm, with a bit of fight. As it worked out it didn’t do any harm.’

Now Wexford could face a reprimand for Davy’s intervention.

‘I don’t think they’ll do that to me. It would be no fun if I was up there (in the stands). You’d have nothing to write about if I’m up there.

‘I know you’ll do me all the favours under the sun tomorrow saying that shouldn’t happen. Whatever it is, it is. I’d like to think common sense (will prevail). I won’t do it again if that’s any consolation.’

On Tipperary’s late scoring blitz, Fitzgerald added: ‘That was us, that wasn’t Tipp. That was us switching off, that was us going from exactly the stuff we worked on. When we came back under a small bit of pressure at the very end and they got that first goal, we switched off and went back to the old habits.

‘We’ll knock that out of them. That won’t happen again I can tell you. I learned more in those eight minutes, the amount of stuff I’ll be able to show them because you can’t leave Tipp loose.

‘When our fella in the hole left the hole that’s when the trouble came. You can’t leave the hole.’