I won’t tell you what we did, but it is different, says Davy Fitzgerald
Davy Fitzgerald spoke about the atmosphere they have created together. How they arrive for training an hour before it starts, sit around and chat, and generally enjoy each other’s company before getting down to business.
Management has changed since he started wearing the bibs. He talked about how this generation of players is different to those who went before and how that informed the manner in which he went about extracting the best from a bunch of players who still had to be persuaded that they could reach these heights.
“We came here to play, we didn’t come to freeze. I’d like to think the lads are humble. We do bring a lot of people in around us that aren’t as fortunate. You take young Michael (O’Brien) from Kerry that came into us this year: if you’d seen the speech he gave before the Tipp game...
“All the boys thought I put him up to it. I didn’t say a word to him. He actually told them it’s about time they start living their dream. This is a young guy that was blind, and it registered big time with the lads.
“That’s the way we are. We don’t do team talks before we go out on the field. There was nothing before we went out on the field today. I won’t tell you what we did, but it is different. I want them to be able to just go out and hurl and express themselves.” That they did just that against Kilkenny, and beat them to the tape, only added to the sense of satisfaction. Fitzgerald has long been on record with his admiration for Brian Cody and Kilkenny, so he was made up when Wexford refused to buckle when under the pump here.
Which they were at times.
Kilkenny tested them. Not just with their indomitable will, but with a more nuanced tactical intent that Fitzgerald has noticed from afar this past two years, as Cody introduced changes designed to offset the loss of so many of the players from the side that rode roughshod over hurling for so long either side of the decade’s dawn.
It’s no wonder he was so contented. He was quick to say “only undefeated team in Ireland” when someone made the point that they were the one side not to lose in Leinster this year, but there was a need to make a stand for his own beliefs and strategies too.
He did it in a measured, but impassioned manner.
“The sweeper system, I’m telling you 100%, I am certain is not a negative system. It just needs to be shown the way it operates, which is very important. It is good for hurling, not bad. I’m a hurling person.
“Our game (against Kilkenny) below in Wexford Park? I think everyone would say it was manly. Look at the short, look at the long, look at the crossfield, look at the catches. You tell me that every element of hurling isn’t in our game? It’s there. I promise you, it’s there.
“And I don’t really care anymore what people think about it, and I’m sure the lads don’t care either, but it isn’t bad to watch.
“I’ve heard so many good reports about ourselves and Kilkenny below in Wexford Park, it’s unreal. And I’m delighted that they’ve stuck with it.”
Anthony Daly reviews the hurling weekend with Brian Hogan, TJ Ryan and Ger Cunningham. In association with Renault - car partners of the GAA.
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