Fitz needs a timeout
DAVY FITZGERALD has declined to commit to another season with Wexford but insisted that he won’t be talking to any rival suitors in the coming weeks either.
The Clare legend’s first season with Wexford ended at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage last weekend and included a surprise promotion to Division 1A of the Allianz League.
The belief all along was that Fitzgerald took the job as a two-year project though he is adamant that nothing is set in stone for 2018.
He said the cross-country trip from Clare to Wexford is a gruelling one and that he regularly leaves his family behind for 12 hours when training the team.
The 2013 All-Ireland winning manager, who underwent a heart procedure last year, acknowledged that his doctor would like him to step away from the pressure cooker environment for a period also.
That uncertainty over the Wexford position has led to suggestions that Fitzgerald might be open to managing Dublin in the wake of Ger Cunningham’s departure.
Fitzgerald refused to rule anything in or out though noted pointedly that it will be only Wexford officials whom he speaks to in the coming weeks.
‘I could end up with my club next year,’ said Fitzgerald. ‘I don’t know what the story is. I’m not thinking of another county or another club at the moment.
‘Like, the only people I will be talking to over the next three or four weeks will be Wexford. I am going to just sit down and have a chat at home and then have a chat with them.
‘And as I told ye on seven or eight occasions, I love dealing with the county board down there. They’re great, not an issue in the world with them.
‘So we’ll sit down and discuss it. But I think you do know, from Clare to Wexford isn’t a straightforward spin that you could have three or four times a week. But let’s see what happens.’
Asked specifically if he fancied the Dublin job, Fitzgerald batted the question away.
‘You can’t talk about things like that,’ he said. ‘At the moment, I’m the Wexford manager. I told them I need a small bit of time. There’s a few personal things I just want to sort out.’
Last year’s heart surgery was Fitzgerald’s second since 2009 and the Sixmilebridge man revealed that his GP has already advised him to take it easy.
‘He said it to me last year that it might do no harm to take a breather for a while,’ said the twotime All-Ireland winning goalkeeper.
‘I could really take it easy and do nothing at home but I’d be fecking miserable. Even if I’m getting into trouble if I’m doing something, I love it, I absolutely love it.
‘And there will come a time when I might not be able to do it and that will come but, you know, I feel okay at the moment. Everyone would have this perception that I get awful worked up.
‘Even take the suspension this year, as much as I was called different things, I didn’t lose it that day. If you look at me, I didn’t lose it, 100 per cent did not lose it and if you really watch it you’ll know that.’
Asked if that meant his high profile sideline incursion during the League semi-final defeat to Tipperary was calculated, Fitzgerald smiled.
‘I better not get into that but all I’ll say is that I did not lose it and maybe there will be a point next year at some stage where I’ll explain exactly what was on my mind but, trust me, it wasn’t just losing the head, it wasn’t, I can promise you,’ he said.
‘It was funny because my sister made a comment to me afterwards and she said something to me and if I told you you’d understand exactly because she knew straight away what the story was.’