Mullane was ‘proving point’ to Fitzgerald

Waterford star John Mullane has revealed the reasons why he celebrated wildly in front of former boss Davy Fitzgerald following last Sunday’s Munster SHC semi-final against Clare at Semple Stadium.

Mullane made a beeline for the Clare dugout and dropped to his knees in front of Fitzgerald following a gripping two-point victory that saw Waterford through to a fourth successive provincial decider.

And speaking on RTÉ’s Championship Matters programme late last night, Mullane alleged that “comments” were passed by Fitzgerald about him to the

father of another Waterford player.

Those comments were then relayed to Mullane and fuelled the player with extra motivation in the days leading up to the game.

Immediately after the match, Fitzgerald categorically denied claims that he said Mullane was “finished” and instead spoke in glowing terms about the All Star forward.

Mullane acknowledged last night that the nature of his post-match celebrations may have “overshadowed” Waterford’s victory and added that it may be possible that he would discuss his grievances with Fitzgerald in the future.

Mullane said: “We’ll sit down some day and we’ll have it out. We’ll talk it through.”

But he added: “We were written off all week but it was overshadowed by the celebrations. I had my reasons for it and Davy is aware of my reasons. Hopefully we can just park it to the side move on now and look forward… we’ll have a good look at Cork-Tipperary at the weekend.”

When pressed by presenter Marty Morrissey for the exact reasons behind his strong reaction at the final whistle, Mullane said: “I’m not going to get into it — comments passed to another player’s father. I didn’t take it too kindly.”

Morrissey then asked Mullane if Fitzgerald had claimed that the player was “finished”.

Mullane replied: “More or less along them lines — I don’t want to get into the ins and outs of who said what but we had it out in the dressing room after the game and Davy came out and said he didn’t say it. That’s what we’re led to believe [that he did].

“It did drive me on all week… the fact that we were written off by so many people too. I wear my heart on my sleeve. It takes a small thing to set it off for me. I’d like to think I proved a point on Sunday.”

Mullane was also asked for his reflections on the X-rated outburst from Fitzgerald that was captured by RTÉ microphones.

He said: “In Davy’s defence there is an awful lot at stake — heat of the moment, particularly in my situation. Things do go through your head. We all make mistakes — park it to the side and concentrate on hurling now.”

When asked if he regretted what happened after the game, Mullane responded: “I have regrets over my character [being] knocked, from different people that, going back to the old days, felt that I was after maturing. I regret that from my own stance but if it is true and if a person makes them comments… whether they’re true or not, I had my reasons for doing it. There was an awful lot at stake — we wanted to prove a point. It didn’t come across well — probably wasn’t the right thing to do at the right time.”

Mullane insisted that he had parted on very good terms with Fitzgerald when the former manager stepped down following last year’s championship.

He added: “I thought Davy Fitzgerald made a massive contribution to Waterford hurling. I had a good relationship with Davy Fitzgerald. When I was told during the week about those comments, I was taken aback by them. I felt I had given four good years of hurling to Davy and Davy had given an awful lot to Waterford.”