Saffron Gael’s Brendan McTaggart met up with new Antrim’s new hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald yesterday at Dunsilly to check out his thoughts on taking over the Saffrons…
There are times in life where you realise, you’re in the presence of something special. On Sunday at Dunsilly, a 20 minute official interview and the same again off the record, I got to see first-hand what makes Davy Fitzgerald tick.
It went from being a run of the mill, standard interview to a passionate insight into what Clare native wants to bring to the Saffrons and how he plans to go about taking Antrim hurling to the next level.
“It’s been a busy two weeks. I’ve had to look at the backroom situation and that’s had the majority of my attention for the last two weeks” started Fitzgerald. “It’s a learning process just at the moment. It’s evaluating everything and seeing where we’re going, what we’re going and who’s going to be involved.”
The rumour mill has been in full flight surrounding who Davy would bring into his backroom team and despite being pressed, he had a glint in his eye when he said: “I wouldn’t be telling you either.” Famously guarded when dealing with the media, Fitzy was joking from the work go and while he was giving nothing away in regards details, he did say: “People have got to trust me and who I pick. Will it suit everyone? Probably not. But I’m there to pick the people that I want to work with. I know what I want and people will have to trust me on that.
“I’ve been putting a lot of thought into it. There are no favours or getting someone in for the sake of getting them in.
“I’m coming up here (to Antrim) a good bit of time. I have a fair idea on who I want and if I’m doing this job, I have to be trusted with that, to make the best decisions possible to help me achieve what I want to.
“There are a certain type of people I need to get to help me achieve that.”
Fitzgerald got tongues wagging throughout the hurling landscape in the country after his ratification and before. He told us that he did turn down an offer from Waterford to stay on and while there was a definite plan to take a break, after speaking with the Antrim county board he was sold: “I stepped down from Waterford, I was offered another two years down there, I declined it. I took the summer off, it was my first time having a June and July off with Daithi Og (his son) and it was grand.
“The only persons I spoke to were Antrim. I had so many clubs coming to me, looking to give a hand here and there. I just didn’t want to and because I have a lot of friends up here – I travel up and down here for a number of years I said we’d have a conversation. Did I expect anything to come from it? If I’m being truthful, no. But their enthusiasm, Seamus (McMullan) enthusiasm was undeniable. There’s been progress made in Antrim over the last number of years but their vision, their goal and desire to make this happen, it really caught my attention.
“I’ve been hearing it for years: “ah they’re great up there”. Not many people get off their backside and get up to do something about it and I thought now was the time, it was now or never.
“I talked to my family at home, spent a good few days talking it over and the logistics of it. I wanted to see if they could come up some of the time and we came to an arrangement. We have two years and I have an option of a third if I want it.
“Sharon (Davy’s wife) knows that I like it up here, I love coming up. This is my chance to finally see, can we help out. Can we do something. I’m sick of people talking about it, at least I’ll be able to say that I gave it my all.”
It wasn’t hard to conclude from our conversation that the new Antrim manager is a devoted family man. How he spoke regarding his family and reverence surrounding them, to make a decision like this was going to be a team effort but in the past, it always has been: “When I went to Wexford, the love I endured down there was incredible. My family, the way they were treated – incredible whether we won or lost. I’m hoping, and it’s something me and Sharon has spoken about, I’m hoping that when people see the that I’m giving it my all then we’ll have the same situation here.
“I can’t say that I’m a magician. I can’t say that we’re not going to get some of the beatings that we’ve got away from home over the last number of years. We have made progress here at Corrigan – great. But we need to be better than that when we go away from home and that’s one of my goals.
“I don’t think it’s going to happen straight out but I have a plan, an idea of what I want to do but when you’re trying to change something and bring new ideas, you have learn those ideas. When you’re learning those ideas, you might be a small be slower on the field – when you have to think on something it takes a split second longer. That’s going to happen. I’d expect that the commitment levels will be off the charts but the game stuff we’ll be looking to bring in will might take that small bit longer to get it to where it needs to be. Once we’ve done it enough, that split second of time will be gone and it will become easier.
That might mean that we will be beaten by a team or two that we shouldn’t or some of the top teams will get us but I’m hopeful that in the long run, fairly soon, not saying it’s four or five years down the road, sooner than that, we’ll be consistent. Playing the way we want to.
“Consistency is a big part of what I’m looking at and to get a style of play and to get something that gives us an identity. I want people to look at us and know that this Antrim team are going to be hard working, they’re never going to give up. I want us to have that identity.”
The new Antrim manager was impressed with the surroundings at Dunsilly, stating that they have all the tools they need but he needs another ingredient: “Things are definitely going in the right direction but I have to see joined up thinking all the way down the line. That’s a big thing.
“I’m not coming in here saying I’m going to sort out underage structures but I hope to be asked my opinion. I hope that we get the best people. Personally, myself and it’s my opinion only, we shouldn’t be putting positions out for nomination. We should be going out for the best people we can get for our squads. That’s my own opinion and it could be totally different from those in the county board but my opinion is we should be getting the best people for our squads and then we should all be in line of how we hope to play, how we coach and how we go about that.
“I don’t need to hear about people saying what needs to be done. Don’t give me that crap. Get up and do something about it. Get onto Seamus or get onto someone and say you want to be involved, you want to help out. I’m sure from talking to him that, trust me, this lad is willing to listen. If we all join up together and get the best structures in place, it can all be inclusive.
“There’s so much good stuff being done in clubs but it needs to be bigger than that. We need the best people we can involved here. There is good people and I like people who are constantly thinking outside of the box. You won’t evolve if you don’t. I don’t manage the same way I did six, seven or eight years ago, you have to evolve in hurling like the way you have to in life.”
Inevitably, styles of play came up in conversation. Davy went and gave me a masterclass in how he went about the 2024 championship with Waterford before dispelling myths surrounding his tenure with Wexford: “With Wexford, I played a plus one. Some people looked on that as an extra defender. It’s not. Anyone who knows anything about hurling knows it isn’t. For three quarters of the game it’s attacking up front with seven, eight and nine players.
“If you tell me that Limerick or Clare played with a straight 15, they never did. People are delusional if they think 15 v 15 hurling is out there. I’m going to see what suits us best. I want the players to play in a way that they have decisions to make may that be hand pass ball, long ball, dink ball, scoring from distance, I want them to have those decisions.
If you get the ball and just lump it down the field all the time, you get a scrum between four or six people. That was ok back years ago and people might like that but that’s not me. I want to see the skills in the game.
“There’s 110 dead ball situations in a game of hurling. 40 puck outs either side, 25 frees and seven or eight side lines. I want to see us be the best we can be in that. That takes a lot out of a game of hurling and people maybe don’t think of that.
“Did the people of Wexford care that I played a plus one? Yeah, maybe some of the older boys from the ’96 team but you look at the record. We won a Leinster Championship; we should have won an All-Ireland. We gave ourselves opportunities and that’s where I’d rather be. I’d love to see a heap of Antrim people coming down to Croke Park on a big day, that’s where I’m coming from.
“I will respect people’s opinion, there’ll never be a problem with that, but I’m also entitled to my opinion and how I think we should be playing. I want that support.”
Outside of hurling, the Antrim manager is looking to grow and sustain a culture. He added: “I believe that Antrim GAA can create a culture that will help young people evolve and grow into better young people. I believe that we can have more values and that can help with their home life. I believe our young people and senior team can do things that they’re not doing at home. This can be bigger. Antrim GAA have the chance to be a leader in certain areas and I hope I can help. I have a vision on how that can happen.
“Kids these days, they’re on their tablets and phones too much. I want to create a culture where they’re putting their phones and tablets down. I want them to be tidying up the changing rooms, don’t be leaving it to the caretaker. Tidying up around the field where we have so much pride in our facilities and making sure that we’re leaving the place in the same condition we found it. Those things, that culture, can be taken into home life also. Make you better as a person at home. Have talks on specific things, be it gambling or drugs, I want to see talks on different things. I want to have an impact on things outside of hurling. A happy home leads to a happy mind and helps to create a good hurler.”
Ultimately, Antrim have brought Fitzgerald in to get them to the next level. Progress has been made and an appointment of such a high profile manager is a massive step. Is it a risk? I think it’s one worth taking. Davy is right in that, hurling has evolved. Antrim hurling may need to evolve too. Fitzgerald concluded by adding:
“People need to stop worrying about styles and look to us getting competitive. Do you want people to continue saying: “ah they’re a great bunch up there”? I’ve no interest in that. I’m up here to change that, to get competitive. Let’s try and get to that next level.”
A couple for the McTaggart family album as Davy poses for pics with Brendan’s daughter Caoimhe and his dad Malachy
