DAVY FITZGERALD HAS been outlining the background to Donal Óg Cusack’s shock appointment as Clare’s new senior hurling team coach.
Cusack will link up with manager Fitzgerald next year in an exciting double act that looks set to capture the imagination of hurling fans around the country.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Ray Darcy show on Saturday evening, Fitzgerald revealed that Cusack was “top of the list” when he drew up a list of names to join his backroom team.
Clare stormed to All-Ireland glory in 2013 but have endured a difficult two seasons since then, bowing out of the Munster and All-Ireland championships at early junctures.
“As soon as you’re beaten, the next week or two or three weeks you’re thinking, what can we do different?” Fitzgerald said.
“We won an All-Ireland two years ago and the last year or two has been really tough and you’re saying, what can I do to change it up and it’s my job as a manager to put the best backroom staff I can there and maybe change things up a small bit.
“You’d draw up a list in your head and I’ll be honest, he was nearly top of the list.
“I’ve watched him analysing stuff on The Sunday Game and he’s really good.
“I said, what the hell, I’ll pick up the phone and I’ll ring him. It quite surprised me, delighted to meet, we met up and had an incredible chat. It took off from there.”
Presenter Darcy wondered how the new partnership will work, given that Fitzgerald and Cusack are both renowned as fiercely independent individuals.
“It’s going to be war!” Fitzgerald joked.
“A lot of perception about me in the dressing room is that you’d be going off the head all the time or whatever.
“I think if you asked the lads they’d have a quite different story to that. I only want the best involved, there’s more than Donal Óg involved, we have Aonghus O’Brien and Jimmy Payne joining our set-up.
“Trust me, the set up we have is incredible as well, we have a lot of really good lads there. I think Donal will add to it, he thinks things out, and I think when he talks…the biggest thing is he’s been there, done it, serious vision in what he wants to do and I think when he talks in that dressing room, them lads will listen. That’s a big part of it.”
The FAI would love him..
Sounds a nice lad, but it says a lot about the average footballer that it is so noteworthy
I gave up my seat on the LUAS today. Where’s my bleedin’ article?
It’s not even newsworthy though. Complete non-story.
Some footballers are creeps, many aren’t. They’re just people. In life the silent majority are the ones we most resemble but find boring as media figures. The rest are heroes or villains, whose merits or demerits are exaggerated, mainly because we like it that way. Someone like Aaron Ramsey or David Meyler being a nice bloke isn’t a news story. Someone famous being a tool in a nightclub is.
Louis C K has a routine about giving his first class seat to a soldier. He only thought about doing it, he didn’t actually do it. Despite this he felt very proud of himself for just thinking about it.
Does this not say more about Liverpool as a club that would book them different seats
Wasn’t Ryanair so?
I’m sure the young staff member escorted him to orgasmville later on though.
Liverpool propaganda again.
w@nker giving up his seat
True he’s after digging a hole for himself there as it will be expected every week now..
Blah blah she must have been good looking , only one thing on his mind !
Why not get two first class tickets.
Following in roys footsteps