Wexford stars sway Davy with house call

DAVY Fitzgerald has admitted that he was close to quitting Wexford but had his mind changed after his players pleaded with him to stay on.

Fitzgerald mysteriously suggested yesterday that he had been considering another offer, which he refused to expand on other than to stress it did not involve managing another county team. However, he said he was persuaded to stay on after more than half his squad travelled to his home and asked him to give it another season.

‘There was something else in the pipeline. It wasn’t managing another team but I’m not going to say what it was. I would have been interested in doing what I was looking at,’ said Fitzgerald, who was speaking yesterday at the launch of the GAA GPA Fenway hurling classic.

Fitzgerald’s Wexford team will be one of four teams, along with Limerick, Clare and Cork, to compete in the exhibition tournament in Boston on November 18, but his eyes are fixed on bigger prizes.

Despite leading the county to top-tier promotion and back-toback All-Ireland quarter-finals, Fitzgerald admitted yesterday that he was unsure if he had carried Wexford as far as he could in the aftermath of the team’s feeble exit to Clare earlier this summer.

In the end, an appeal from the players proved crucial. Led by captain Matt O’Hanlon, the majority of the panel journeyed to the coach’s home in Clare to convince him to give it another season.

‘After the Clare game, every single one of them came up and hugged me before we left the meal.

‘I didn’t know what the story was going to be.

‘The county chairman rang me and said a couple of lads rang him and they wanted to come down. Would it be okay with me?

‘Then Matt rang and asked was it okay if a few of them came down. I think it was 15 or 16 of them. But I had another 16 texts on my phone because there was Under-21s on the same day.

‘And that’s very unusual that you’d get that. Normally you have the last 10 or 12 guys on any panel who’d love a change because they’re never seeing any action.

‘All I can say is I’ve been happy for the two years and I hope the third one is the same.

‘But I would have massive affection for them and the way they handle themselves.

‘It’s hard to tell you how much they work and how much they want to get there. I’d love them to

get there,’ added Fitzgerald. And he insists that it is all to play for in the new season, claiming that Limerick’s All-Ireland success underlines just how democratic and open the championship has become.

‘Look at the hurling Championship next year. Being realistic, I think there’s any one of maybe six or seven teams that could honestly say they have a shot at it.

‘I really believe that. There are so many teams who could beat other teams there. You probably wouldn’t have picked Limerick at the start of the year but they’ve really grown as it’s gone on.

‘If you look at the last number of years you’ve had Tipp, Kilkenny, Clare, Galway, Limerick — five different winners. That’s a healthy hurling Championship and if you throw Waterford into that, you won’t be far away.

‘There’s always hope. I always believe that. I remember people thought I was nuts back in 2009/2010 when I said things will change and other teams will come. I believe that anything is possible.’

Fitzgerald’s decision to go again next year will mark his 30th consecutive year in inter-county hurling. From minor player to senior manager, the years of unbroken service, he insists, has left him as hungry as ever.

‘You know, every summer is gone. You’ve no life. That’s it. It’s gone. But you know what? I have no regrets. Absolutely none.’