‘I should have moved McGrath’

DAVY FITZGERALD admitted he should have switched Waterford centre-forward Ken McGrath during last month’s drawn Munster SHC semi-final against Limerick.

McGrath, who was suffering with a knee injury during the game and has subsequently been sidelined, was struggling to make an impact and Fitzgerald’s decision not to move him came in for criticism after the game.

But the Waterford boss insisted switching McGrath would have caused panic in the side.

“I could have definitely moved Ken McGrath. I knew we were in trouble in certain areas but the one thing I didn’t want to show the team was panic.

“I’ve seen one or two analysts since, who were in the same situation and didn’t make great moves themselves, commenting on me.

“I don’t care if it’s Cody or whoever ‘tis, you’re not always going to do the right thing but you’ve to do what you think is best for the team on the day.

“I won’t be right all the time. The last day, (replay) I probably moved a lot sharper because I had my mind made up beforehand that if I saw something, I was going to move it and didn’t give a f**k.”

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald revealed that as part of his commitment to Waterford, he held a meeting in January with the county’s U21, minor and intermediate managers with a view to creating a uniform style of play in the county. Fitzgerald has attended all of their championship matches this year and has been at 17 club championship matches in the county.

“What I said was we should all be trying to play the same way and work on the same things and all have communication. I outlined exactly what I was doing, where I was going. I told them the whole plan.

“Then they had their plans. We discussed everything. I wouldn’t say that I dictated everything. I told them what I was thinking and they told me what they were thinking.”