Davy Fitzgerald: ‘I’ve always had strong men with me’

Anyone within earshot of Davy Fitzgerald in Cusack Park last Sunday week would testify the man remains as passionate as ever. But is it finally time we realised his box office appeal extends beyond the “hell for leather” caricature?

‘You know what I love?” Davy Fitzgerald asks with that customary half-wink of his. Before you suggest the bacon and cabbage he has just tucked away, he has the answer: “Helping a team do something they’re not meant to do. When they achieve something, that time after it and seeing people’s emotions, people who haven’t had success. I love watching that because you can never say never. You can always do it. That’s my fulfilment. That comes from training junior and intermediate clubs, LIT, Clare, Waterford. You’ve done things that you’re not meant to have done and that makes it twice as sweet.”

Fitzgerald the underdog is alive and well. The competitor too, you’ll be glad to know. As if you weren’t already aware. As if you don’t want to see his reaction to every score, be it for or against Clare. Because it means more. Coming from a county that learned to fight on their backs, he could never imagine himself taking charge of a team that were ready-made for glory. Words like convention and tradition are omitted from his vocabulary.