No quick fix in Clare, warns new boss Davy

DAVY FITZGERALD wasratified by the Clare County Board as the county’s senior hurling manager last night, with the former goalkeeper unveiling Louis Mulqueen and Mike Deegan as his selectors.

An emotional Fitzgerald — given a three-year term — addressed delegates at the meeting, which was held in the West County Hotel in Ennis, and thanked them for the “honour” of his appointment.

“It’s great to be back home,” he said, thanking the clubs for their support.

“You’ve seen me playing and a lot of people would judge me on how I acted. I remember the first game I went to in 1977, on my uncle’s shoulders, watching my hero, Seamus Durack. All that was in my head was that ‘some day I’ll play for Clare’. And I was lucky to get my break and play for Clare.

“The reason we achieved success [in the Nineties] was the team ethos and the support of the clubs, and the football in 92 drove us as well.

“I’m absolutely delighted to have Mike Deegan on board. He’s cool, calm, collected and gets on with players, which is very important. Louis Mulqueen has worked with many teams and would be valued very highly by Ger Loughnane, so I think I’m well surrounded by good people.

“No one man will make Clare successful, it’ll take a lot of us working hard. I can’t promise a quick fix, but I can tell you I’ll work as hard as I possibly can. I mean that.

“Everything I can do to bring Clare back to where we need to be, I’ll do.

“Sparrow [Ger O’Loughlin] did a great job the last two years [as manager]. It wasn’t easy, he started to rebuild and that rebuilding is far from finished.

“We’ve had a lot of [underage] success but everyone is saying that success leads to senior success, which concerns me. Did it happen in Limerick and Galway?

“We have to keep these lads grounded and working hard at senior. I don’t think our strength and conditioning is good enough, so we’ll be working on that, and on some hurling things.

“All I can promise is commitment and all I ask from is your support.”

Fitzgerald, who won All-Ireland senior hurling medals with Clare in 1995 and 1997, takes over in Clare after managing Waterford — the side Clare will face first in next year’s Munster hurling championship — since 2008.

He brought Waterford to a first All-Ireland final in almost 50 years when they qualified for the 2008 decider, but the Déise lost heavily to Kilkenny in that game.

Last year Fitzgerald brought them to the Munster final in a replay win over Cork but they lost heavily to Tipperary in this year’s provincial decider, shipping seven goals in the process. He has also coached Limerick Institute of Technology to Fitzgibbon Cup success.

Mike Deegan is well known in Clare club hurling circles and managed Cratloe this season when they were beaten last weekend by Sixmilebridge, for whom Fitzgerald starred, ironically. Two years ago Deegan brought Cratloe to their first Clare senior title.

Louis Mulqueen is one of the top physical trainers in inter-county hurling and has previously trained Clare with Ger Loughnane and Cyril Lyons. He also trained Galway.

In addition, Banner football manager Michael McDermott had his term extended for another year by delegates, with a review to take place at the end of the 2012 season.

Next season will be the Cavan native’s third in charge of the Clare footballers.