Sharpshooter Reidy has Davy Fitz in his sights
In-form Clare forward relishes taking on the manager who handed him his first senior start
DAVID REIDY takes the call during a break in classes at Limerick Institute of Technology where he is in his final year of Business and Sports Management studies. It’s the same campus where Davy Fitzgerald was honoured with a fellowship back in 2014, the then Clare manager swapping his tracksuit for a cap and gown after being recognised for helping to turn the third level institute into a hurling stronghold.
From being called up to the senior squad for the first time by Fitzgerald, Reidy has watched his old mentor make waves this past 14 months in a new incarnation as Wexford manager. One of the main storylines of the hurling weekend is the first time Fitzgerald goes up against his native county since crossing provincial boundaries. Which means going up against the group of players in the main who he brought to the dizzying heights of an All-Ireland summit in 2013, only to fall off hurling’s cliff face to the extent that he parted company in the autumn of 2016 against a backdrop of dressing-room murmurings.
Then there’s the subplot of a player like in-form attacker Reidy who had Fitzgerald as his LIT manager during the recent Fitzgibbon Cup campaign.
So will it be strange to see the man he was going into battle with a couple of weeks ago in opposition at Innovate Wexford Park this afternoon?
‘I wouldn’t say strange is the right word. For the 70-plus minutes we’ll be 100 per cent enemies but before the game and straight away after we’ll be back friends again. He has great time for Clare and the Clare panel have great time for him – he brought a lot of success to the Clare seniors as well.
‘Davy is a gent of a man. Has done great work with Wexford. They’ve been flying it since he went in last year. Continued it this year. The only thing is, the pressure is off us. We’re into a quarter-final no matter what the result. That’s the biggest thing.’
Last weekend, despite a first Allianz League loss to Tipperary, Fitzgerald was in jovial form as he chatted with reporters. But for a tale of missed scoring chances, Wexford could so easily have joined Clare at the top of the Division 1A table after encouraging victories over Wexford and Cork. It was when the subject turned to facing Clare that he got most animated, declaring: ‘I feel the Clare lads will lift it incredible playing against me… they’ll be coming to Wexford Park all guns blazing.’
Reidy’s own form sums up the energy and verve that Clare are playing with at the moment, a bit of swagger back in their game for the first time in a while. The Cork defence couldn’t handle his turn of pace in a onesided first half in Ennis last Sunday with the game over at the break as Clare led 0-16 to 0-5. To put a further gloss on the result, it meant Clare had beaten hurling’s traditional big three of Tipperary, Kilkenny and Cork in successive matches for the first time since 1997, the year they also bagged the All-Ireland.
‘When you see it goes back that far, it’s a good vide inside the camp,’ admits Reidy.
‘It breeds confidence which is vitally important. We won’t forget though, it’s only the League. Championship is what really matters.’
His own backstory comes with a twist. A whirling dervish of a player in the mould of all-action Podge Collins, it seems out of step that he never made a Clare development squad until becoming an All-Ireland Under 21 winner in 2013. At that stage, he was just too young in his development to make the cut for the senior squad who made it a summer to remember on two fronts, watching the drawn senior final and replay from Hill 16 with members of his family.
Turns out he had other stuff going on. ‘I represented the Ireland U21s in clay pigeon shooting around 2013 as well in the Home Nations competition. It happened to be held in Ireland that year. The way I got into the sport was because of my dad. He loves it.
‘I don’t compete competitively anymore in terms of that high standard. With the amount of time needed for training and recovery, it’s only in the off season that you get a chance to go back and do it as a hobby more than anything.’
With that kind of an eye for a target, maybe it’s no coincidence he is often entrusted with free-taking duties.
He recognises that he wasn’t ready for senior hurling in 2013. ‘That was definitely too soon. It was my first year on the U21s. That was my first year on any Clare panel, all the way up, so playing senior was a small bit beyond my limits at the time.
‘I was probably a late bloomer. All the way up, it wasn’t just hurling. Soccer was a main sport as well. So I split my time when most of the Clare lads on the way up were just focusing on hurling.’
His soccer talent was such that he went to England for trials. ‘I was on the Clare Oscar Traynor team when I was 18. When I was younger I went over to Yeovil Town as well. I’d say I had just turned 16. It just happened that I didn’t get selected. I was 20 then when I got called up to the Clare panel. I finished playing soccer completely then.’
When Fitzgerald guided Clare to a first National League title since 1978, he had worked his way into the frame as a fleet-footed link player around the middle, the pitch invasion from supporters at the final whistle of the replay staying with him. ‘The first game when Tony [Kelly] came up and got a great point to level it, that was my first proper big day out. That got me into the swing of things. The drawn game, we didn’t know whether it was a happy or sad result but we came back and won the replay. It meant so much to the Clare public – you could see that from the pitch invasion. Unfortunately, we haven’t driven on since that.’
While he is no wiser than anyone as to why it hasn’t happened, Clare’s spring form has supporters buoyant again as thoughts begin to turn to summer. Reidy is a fan of the radical new round robin Munster Championship format that is in place for the next three years.
‘I love it. The fact that you’re getting to play more games, that can only be a positive for a player. In the old format you might have only two games and be knocked out. Games upon games, that’s the way forward. As for diluting the Munster Championship – I don’t think so. Look at how competitive it’s going to be this year. I don’t think any team is going to go through that round-robin campaign unbeaten.’
But that’s one for further down the tracks. Davy Fitzgerald’s Wexford will be more than enough to occupy Clare minds this weekend.