Clare players have total faith in Davy Fitzgerald, says Patrick Kelly

Clare goalkeeper Patrick Kelly has reiterated the county hurling squad’s faith in manager Davy Fitzgerald.

Teammates Brendan Bugler and Aaron Cunningham voiced their backing for the under-fire Fitzgerald on Clare FM in the wake of their championship exit to Cork earlier this month and Kelly was just as insistent Fitzgerald had the unanimous support of his squad.

“Yeah, he has the full backing of the players,” said Kelly at the M Donnelly Poc Fada launch in Dublin. “There is no question about that. A lot of stuff has been talked over the media about trying to get Davy out and this and that, but I can guarantee he has the full backing of every single member of that squad.

“With Davey you get what you see. He is an aggressive character on the line, but the thought he puts into the game is second to none, his tactics. It wasn’t his fault we didn’t put the ball in the net against Cork. He wasn’t out there on the field. The players have to take responsibility for that loss.”

Kelly did suggest the off-the-field controversies which surrounded the manager and squad this season “might not have helped”, but added the county hurlers were unfortunate to lose four of their nine league and championship games by a point.

“If you are not first, you’re last,” he pointed out. “That’s the way it goes. We will just have to find something maybe. In the last 10 minutes, we were kind of fading. It happened against Limerick (in the Munster championship).

“We didn’t score for the last seven or eight minutes. Against Cork (in their last All-Ireland qualifier) it was the last nine or 10. Maybe we have to address that. There is definitely silverware in this team if we can just get it right and get it together and everyone back on board, hopefully.”

It is all conjecture now, but Clare would surely have made a better fist of their season had they operated with the services of two of their 2013 All Stars: Padraic Collins, who opted off the panel to play football, and Colm Galvin, who spent most of the campaign in Boston.

Finding a means of facilitating Collins’ return must be a priority.

“There’s always a place for Podge , there’s always a place for Colm Galvin,” said Kelly. “As Davy said, the door is never closed on anyone. It’s up to the player himself to make that choice. In Podge’s situation, it was tough with his father involved with the football.

“Obviously you have to go with your family loyalties first if you’re given a decision (to make), but the door is always open for Podge Collins and we’d love to have him back because he’s a great guy to have around.”