Free was made for Tony Kelly, says delighted Davy Fitzgerald

Davy Fitzgerald revealed it was his call to appoint Tony Kelly to take the 80 metres-plus free to equalise over Colin Ryan and Conor McGrath.

Newmarket-on-Fergus man Ryan is Clare’s preferred free-taker and had fired over a long-range placed ball in the 59th minute, while McGrath had earlier struck five frees from seven attempts.

However, Fitzgerald made an executive decision to allow Kelly stand over the ball. “I’d have got killed if he didn’t score that point from the free because I changed the free-taker myself. I felt he was on fire, I felt that was one made for him and I asked him to hit it. I don’t know would the other selectors have killed me if it went wide. It was a call, he did it, great man for the big occasion and fair play to him.