DAVY FITZGERALD HAS reached out to Brian Lohan, his former team-mate on the Clare teams who won the 1995 and 1997 All-Irelands, in a bid to restart their friendship.
The Wexford manager and his Clare counterpart have drifted apart in the last five years, Fitzgerald criticising Lohan in his book, Lohan having this to say about Fitzgerald last year. “I don’t know if it’s genuine passion,” said Lohan. “We’re all passionate about the game, but we don’t . . . we show it in different ways. He has the way he does things and people have to kind of fit into that. But I think some of the antics, they’re not great.”
Tonight on The Sunday Game, Fitzgerald said he hoped their friendship could be resurrected.
“When you are a manager and you get criticism from your own, it does hurt,” Fitzgerald said. “I probably took it too personally. Maybe you have to live with that. I hate that it came from fellas you played with.
“Brian and I had a unique friendship. Make no mistake, he was one of the best full-backs I have ever seen.
“As regards going forward with Clare, I honestly want to see Brian do well. That is 100 per cent.
“I’m disappointed it (their differences) has come to where it is now. I got hurt from a bit of criticism. Brian got hurt from what I said in my book. Maybe we should be big enough to forget about it and move on.
“Having dealt with him over the years, I know he is a good guy. I wish him and Clare the best.”
Fitzgerald also spoke about the criticism he has received from Ger Loughnane, his former Clare manager. ”It would have bothered me a lot at the start (of my tenure as Clare manager). I wondered: ‘why would a Clare man have a cut at another Clare man?’ It didn’t make sense but Ger is Ger and he is going to make headlines.”
This year the headlines have not been about hurling but about a virus and whether any inter-county games would take place at all in 2020.
Now it seems like they will. Inter-county training is due to return in September with competition set to resume in October.
Fitzgerald said: “I have one big word in life which is hope and in fairness the Government have done a really good job (dealing with the effects of Covid-19).
“To see restrictions lifted earlier than we had initially anticipated is great. It makes the soul feel good.”
Fitzgerald said he is prepared to return to the training field as soon as he can.
“I had stents put in a while ago and it would cross your mind that you have an underlying condition,” he said.
“Certainly if the time is right, I am willing to go out into the field. I will adhere to the guidelines but do things sensibly. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I have decided that I would like to be out there again on the field.”
He insisted he won’t be pressurising players to return to training if they feel uncomfortable about it.
“Personally, there is no way you should put any pressure on any player, that is my belief.
“If they feel it is okay to come back, then great.
“Everybody has to make a decision for their family, they need to do what they think is best.”
Fitzgerald also said he does not mind the club championship returning before inter county games are played.
“I am happy with that (scenario). Never would I put county before club or club before county. Whichever comes back first, I am delighted to work with both.
“To me, this year is not about winning All-Irelands. I would love to win one with Wexford, win a club with Sixmilebridge. It is about playing games again. If we are doing that, we are winning.
“For a few months there, it was not looking like there would be any GAA this year. It is great to think we might get football and hurling again.”
Davy is definitely a divisive character, but you cant question his passion for the game.
He has given 30 years if unbroken service to intercounty hurling between playing and management which is absolutely phenomenal
@Gareth Ward: and gets extremely well paid to show his passion!
@Alan Curtis: When you consider he’s the only manager to have won a munster, leinster, league and all ireland he probably deserves the cash!
@Gareth Ward:
“Divisive character” is a polite way of saying he’s a “Langer”
@Alan Curtis: He didn’t get “extremely well paid” to play minor, u-21 and senior for Clare for nearly a decade.
And given that he has been a huge success for every team he has managed it’s no surprise he’s in high demand.
And as most people know high demand =…..
@Lotus: he can be a bit much at times but his heart is in the right place. That time when he came on and shouldered the player I mean he shouldn’t be doing that he’ll know that himself but it was very entertaining nonetheless.
@Sean: J Forde had every right to split him from head to toe. Showed the most incredible restraint I’ve seen from a player on a hurling pitch.
The man is passionate about the game , gives it a 100 percent no matter what he does , the man admits his mistakes and he does a lot for his community
Hats off nice guy
Davy goes over the top occasionally. Probably more than occasionally. Needs to stop acting like a spoilt teenager.
@Johnny 5: Does go over the top but can’t argue with his record.our lads would run through a brick wall for him,Wexford supporters love him and hopefully we’ll have him for another few years
@Johnny 5: No self awareness. A bit like Keane, very precious about his own feelings but couldn’t give a damn about anyone else’s. The game wouldn’t end the same without him though. The passion is beyond question.
@Louis Jacob: *wouldnt be the same
@John Fagan: His passion and his record are undeniable. And I’m sure players will run through walls for him. But there’s a line between passion and stupidity and he crosses it too often in my opinion. Running on the pitch pushing players and opposition managers. It’s not a rush of blood as some claim, it’s purely tactical.
@Johnny 5: I think with people like Davey, you take the good with the bad. I’d say he finds life tough enough. But it would be an awfully dull existence without people like him. I wouldn’t be too worried anyway. For all the holier-than-thou carry on, GAA folks are hardy enough for him.
@Louis Jacob: I agree with some of what you’re saying. Nobody wants a pitch full of primadonnas. We love watching tough players like Ciaran Whelan, Graham Geraghty, Francie Bellew and Paidi O’Sé, but it should be on the pitch, never on the touchline.
@Johnny 5: True. On the flip side, I couldn’t watch Ireland’s fittest Family when he’s in it. Pain the H.
@Louis Jacob: very true!
Love to have Davey as Dublin manager some day, A legend,
@Looney Tunes: He only manages hurlers
@Sean O Callaghan: ha, some good hurlers coming up the ranks in the capital,
We’ll settle for an All Ireland in 21.Tongue in cheek.Or not?????
We see and hear too much of this clown in the media.
Like him or loath him, he seems genuine and honest and clearly love the sport. There are much worse characteristics to have.
You try to teach kids to respect the match officials. That abusing/screaming at them isn’t acceptable. Then they see one of the GAAs most high profile managers behaving as he does on the sideline.
Childish tantrums, no self-control, discipline out the window. The opposite of what sport is supposed to teach kids. All while representing his players/county on the sideline as manager.
But hey, it seems that having ‘passion’ negates any personal responsibility to behave like an adult.
We’ll settle for an All Ireland in 21.Tongue in cheek.Or not????????
Keep it up davy. A legend