CLARE COUNTY SECRETARY Pat Fitzgerald has blamed social media for stirring up the opposition that forced Davy Fitzgerald to stand down.
Davy Fitz walked away following Clare’s exit from the hurling championship when it became clear that he did not have the support of all the players.
The 2013 All-Ireland winning manager, who still had a year to run on his term, was replaced by Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor.
In his report to Clare’s annual convention, seen by the Clare Champion, Pat Fitzgerald — Davy’s father — pointed the finger at an online campaign as the source of the unrest.
Fitzgerald believes that some people within the county were opposed to Davy’s appointment from the outset.
“People turned to social media to have shots at the management and basically launch a campaign for change,” Fitzgerald wrote.
He added:
While Davy had a year to run, he was swimming against the tide as a cohort of people, who never really endorsed his appointment, pushed the keyboards to stir up opposition to him seeing out his tenure. When some of the players indicated their wishes for change, he bowed out in a very dignified manner, thereby eliminating the possibility of acrimony, conflict and bitter division.
Any blame for Clare’s disappointing campaign couldn’t lie solely with the management, Fitzgerald indicated, as he turned the focus on the players themselves.
A disappointing summer saw Clare fail to build on their National Hurling League title, losing to Waterford in the Munster semis before exiting the All-Ireland series in the quarter-finals against Galway.
“In my opinion,” he wrote, “there are a small cohort of players that need to analyse their own performance and commitment over recent years.”
Moloney and O’Connor were ratified for a two-year term as joint managers having guided Clare’s U21s to three consecutive All-Ireland titles between 2012 and 2014.
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Katie has it all. Passion for the sport, amazing skill and loyalty to those who helped get her to the top. It’s admirable. You’re the best Katie!!!!
Don’t forget the God bothering.
Um, what? Pele, Maradona or even Zidane would like a word…. and Thierry Henri brought all that contempt upon his own head by demonstrably and publicly cheating, while wearing the colours of his nation, then treating such contempt as naïveté. Even French sports fans were unhappy with his conduct. It was disgraceful then, and remains disgraceful now. Why do you think his endorsements dried up? Now he will play out his career playing for New York. Sad.
shes religious, so what? people have a right to their beliefs as long as they dont force it on others, im not religious but i dont have the right to attack somebody elses religon or force my own views on them where theres no harm!
I should add that I am not against Katie talking about how god helped her, I think it’s great that she has such faith and it’s what gets her through. What I am against is people like mairead trolling this site and trying to force religion down peoples throats!
Oh and on a note actually related to this headline here’s hoping that Zaur stays with the Irish boxers because by all accounts they owe much of their success to him!
Agree 100% with that. I think mairead us just looking for a reaction to be honest
I would be worried about Katie Taylor turning professional, will she still have her dad at her side? & can she still wear the helmet? Or will she be beaten to a pulp? What protection is there in professional boxing?
ah will ye cop on….whatever she does she is a national hero…fair play to her,,,
That was a fair point Cian, where is the need to cop on with her comment? I agree Susan I’d worry that we’d run away with the wins so far, small timely dedicated steps needed to continue her success.
The only protective gear carried to pro boxing is the mouthpiece, as far as I know. But a big difference between the two levels is that while Am-boxing has one worldwide governing body, pro-boxing does not and the rules can therefore differ from organisation to organisation. As regards being beaten up, there is definitely a different emphasis on impact boxing in the pro level. In amatuer, points are given on technique and landing a hit – the actual force involved is irrelevant. At pro level, more points are awarded for the impact a blow has (eg, a knockout or knockdown), and the ref really only intervenes for actual fouls (not technique issues). A lot of boxers have a hard time of it when they first move up to pro.
@ryan… she is a boxer not a professional tiddlywinks player of course she will be hurt hence my comment to “cop on”
Monsieur Troll DuVal you speak for yourself & not France !
Bravo Katie :-)
Andrezj why exactly are you in Ireland if Poland is so great??
We should reward the coaches in boxing with good new contracts. We usually only reward failure on this country, why not reward success for a change.
Katie Taylor is a sporting hero and someone young people can look up too & aspire to be? Why do her religious beliefs have to come into it? That’s her business
She brings them into it. Every time she’s on camera she’s talking about god.. the magic man in the sky who miraculously gives her the adrenaline needed to throw her punches.. nothing at all to do with the spinach and carrots.
Every major nation in the world competes in boxing, what a misinformed stupid comment.
Ah Mairead give it a rest
Contact sports are not violent.
Come on Journal.ie! Why don’t you just block these stupid trolls?
Great tribute video montage to Katie Taylor. https://vimeo.com/47361394
Lots of people die in sports not just boxing.
Tell that to the thousands of brain-damaged amateur and professional boxers, or pray for those that died in the ring! Please don’t be ignorant.
Seriously mairead?! Jesus you’d put anybody off going to church!! Save the bible bashing for people who care. We’re all sick of your nonsensical rants at this stage!