HARK, AND YOU WILL hear the sounds of the Champagne corks being popped in the offices of the Leinster provincial council after it was announced that Davy Fitzgerald is back in town, this time shrouded in the saffron of Antrim.
In common with everybody else, they don’t know how it is going to go down. They might have a smidgen more admin work to carry out and an occasional referee’s report to be pored over.
But by God, they will strap in and enjoy the rollercoaster. After a season in which the Leinster championship was an exhausting and drab slog, there is a whole lot more energy ahead in 2025.
The travelling media jamboree will doubtless flock to Corrigan Park, awaiting the sardines to be flung overboard from the trawler. There will be fire and brimstone and a bale of ash on the sideline so don’t be afraid to break a few.
Those who were part of putting together this arrangement will be pleased with themselves. We’re thinking of the likes of Tony Shivers and Dominic Kearns, both Dunloy clubmen and heavily involved with the Saffron Business Forum group that have had Fitzgerald as an occasional guest and speaker at their functions.
Fitzgerald’s connections with Dunloy Cúchullains goes back to the All Ireland club final of 1996, when his Sixmilebridge beat Dunloy. He became friendly with Seamus ‘Mushy’ McMullan, a wing-back on the Dunloy side.
The two bonded on Poc Fádas and started golfing together. That led to a friendship with Tony Shivers, proprietor of the hugely successful Premier Electrics.
On occasion, Fitzgerald would help Dunloy preparations for the Antrim championship, when McMullan was managing.
When Loughgiel beat them in the 2012 Volunteer Cup decider, some footage went up online of the Shamrocks players singing Davy Fitz’s name in a (good humoured) late-night singsong, referencing the helicopter trips he took up north.
It is, without doubt, the highest-profile manager Antrim have ever had. Who he takes with him will also be interesting.
Already, it is believed that former Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash will have a role. He will also need some local knowledge and if he is clever about it, will convince the hugely-respected Johnny Campbell to remain as a selector.
In the early stages, there will be the usual Fitzgerald trademarks once they get going. There will be a million sliotars on the pitch. Pre-dawn gutting sessions will naturally form part of his character analysis. Antrim fans will be fascinated to see a county team with cheekbones you could hang wet towels off.
So far, so good.
But it’s not as if it doesn’t come with some trepidation. The last time Davy managed in Belfast, he was in charge of the Wexford team that drew with Antrim in 2021.
That day he got into a pointless spat along the sideline with Antrim manager Darren Gleeson. This being a time of Covid lockdowns, the remarks carried to the ears of the journalists present.
Some of it was pitiful.
Antrim will have priced in this stuff. When you get down to it, so much of it is performative and planned anyway.
It’s a long-told tale now, but the day he managed Limerick IT against his old full-back guardian Brian Lohan’s UL was the ultimate instruction.
UL were warming up in one corner of the pitch, and Limerick IT were instructed to plough through the warm up and disrupt their focus prior to a Fitzgibbon Cup game in 2014.
There’s nothing spontaneous about that, nor is it anything new.
Football abounds with countless such examples, such as Donegal doing the exact same to Derry ahead of the 2011 Ulster final in the warm-up pitch in Clones.
But, we digress.
A decade ago, Antrim were in a bad place. Kevin Ryan was travelling from Waterford to manage them. His abiding impression in the early days was how he expected more passion and desire for the Saffron jersey.
The game of hurling at club level remained fiercely contested, but he found it difficult to get the best players to commit to the county.
Thereafter, PJ O’Mullan Junior came in. Having managed Loughgiel Shamrocks to the All Ireland club title, much was expected. But it ended in mid-season, 2016.
In came the managerial duo of Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton and Dominic ‘Woody’ McKinley for a second spell.
It’s fair to say that period wasn’t without low points, most notably a defeat to Meath in the Christy Ring final replay of 2016.
Around that time though, they brought Neal Pedan in as a selector. A former teacher at Rathmore Grammar, he brought a studious and considered approach, later becoming team manager and then taking the role as ‘director of hurling.’
Everything Antrim did from that point had method and purpose. They brought Liam Sheedy in to offer his observations. He brought Darren Gleeson along with him. The succession plan was mapped out.
The work at the top end was scientific and painstaking.
Which is why, for many, this move is such a volte-face.
There is a feeling Fitzgerald’s time as a manager of a potential All Ireland winner is over. His options have winnowed out.
Events in Waterford confirmed it.
The Tuesday night training session before their last league game, the players refused to exit the dressing rooms at Waterford IT before they could address the style of hurling they felt was imposed upon them.
On the pre-championship tune-up in Portugal, further discussions between players and management led to a significant change in approach. Fitzgerald had no choice but to acquiesce.
Already in Antrim, there is a sense that Fitzgerald is their chance of transitioning from a side who can produce one, maybe two upsets a year, to a side that can truly challenge for a Leinster title.
Pessimists will ask if it’s not all a bit of a sugar hit?
After years of layering good practice, this is a rock ‘n’ roll move. A maverick twist destined to leave a peculiarly empty feeling in its wake.
Whatever happens, Antrim will be box office. A Netflix series beckons.
