Davy Fitz, what's next? 'I'm still relatively young as regards a manager'

Davy Fitzgerald departed as Antrim manager but he already has an eye on the next opportunity to break new ground with an underdog.

WHAT'S NEXT?; Davy Fitzgerald an Antrim match recently. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Last Sunday, Davy Fitzgerald brought down the curtain on his 37th season involved with an inter-county team.

His two seasons with Antrim were among the most challenging yet rewarding of his 20 years managing sides at the highest level.

His predecessor Darren Gleeson had left a good inheritance but withdrawals and retirements contributed to a transitional period for Antrim and they were relegated from the Leinster senior hurling championship last year.

When results continued to slide this year, Fitzgerald came under pressure from elements of the Antrim County Board. He was told two games into the Joe McDonagh Cup that it might be in his best interests to step down. He refused, the players backed him and Antrim finished out the competition with three wins.

In his first interview since leaving Antrim, Fitzgerald speaks about his time there and his future:

John Fogarty: You became Antrim manager in August 2024. How do you look back on your time there now?

Davy Fitzgerald: A lot of people talk about Antrim doing great work. Was I going to be another one of them or was I actually going to go and do it? I was pretty tired in 2024, but I had made a promise for a long time that if I ever got the opportunity that I would do it. 

I suppose I am one of very few managers that has been successful, that has put their head on the block and gone up and done it. We were down six, seven players and probably this year alone we were missing five from last year. We were missing our goalie, Ryan (Elliott), who stepped away for personal reasons. Conor Boyd and his missus were expecting a second child. Then you had Nigel Elliott, who I suppose had been around for a long time. Others too.

JF: You enjoyed the experience?

DF: I enjoyed the lads. I have a smile on my face thinking about the training we did in Dunsilly. I didn't do a lot of interviews this year. I said a few things last year and they were misconstrued in different ways. One of them was teaching Antrim “how to hurl again”. I never said that. What I said was there was four or five aspects of their play that I looked at over a five-year period that I needed to go back and start from square one. 

The talent is up there, their hurling is top class. Can this bunch hurl? They can hurl. Might lack a bit of confidence at times, but they can play. I had a good backroom team, absolutely top class. Between Aaron Graffin and Seoirse (Bulfin), Paul Donnelly, it was top class and all the rest. They were brilliant. So that side of it, I enjoyed.

JF: But there were results that went against you?

DF: We lost three games by a point or two points, all in the 70-something minutes. You take Wexford the first round of the league. I have great time for Tyler (referee Thomas Walsh), he made a mistake at the end of the game. He said it to me that he didn't see them moving up the ball the way they did. That was in the 75th or 76th minute. That was hard to take. Then the two Down games. Like in the first half in the league, one minute of additional time. Second half, five minutes extra time. That's fine. But then you find another two or three minutes on top of the five minutes. 

Then you take the championship game against Down. And the amount of scoring chances we created. We’d enough to win two games. It felt a bit harsh that there wasn’t a black card at the end of it when James McNaughton was pulled down to the ground. He was through on goal. So, them three things and you could have had an unbelievable year. I look at Down and I think fair play to them. They are doing good work and have improved, but I do believe that we were very unlucky.

JF: Did you have to bite your tongue about what happened with the Antrim County Board?

DF: There was a thing that happened during the league that I wouldn't have been happy with concerning the county board. Had a good relationship with the chairman (Séamus McMullan). I was disappointed with him. But there was one or two other guys. And to be honest, I'm most disappointed with Terry Reilly (Antrim vice-chairman) and Ciarán Kearney (operations manager) in certain things they've done. And I'll hold that with me and it’s over now. But it's not good enough.

JF: Was what happened in the league similar to the aftermath of the Laois game in the McDonagh Cup?

DF: It was the same thing. I wasn't going to walk away from these guys no matter what the story is. Because when you're going through a tough time, the last thing you do is run. You stay there and you battle out. And do you know what? We did. And we put in some great performances. Some of the stuff we were doing the last few games was unreal. But I'm not going to blame the whole county board here. It was mainly two people that acted like they knew it all.

Davy Fitzgerald during the Allianz Hurling League Division 1B match between Offaly and Antrim. Pic: Matt Browne/Sportsfile.

JF: James McNaughton and Stephen Rooney paid tribute to you after Sunday’s game. The players seemed to take sides with you over the county board?

DF: When you train 36 lads, you're not going to have 36 lads on your side. I'm not there to be their friend. I'm there to do the best job and I think x amount will understand that. Any manager worth his salt, if he's really liked by 36 people, he's probably not willing to do too much. 

I was very proud of them. They stood up on their own account and had their own things with the county board that they wanted to get across. These players will win a Joe McDonagh and get back into Leinster. I think we have done certain things that will help that. I look at certain managers that got a lot of years to do things in counties that were way more traditional than us. It takes a bit of time. I thought it would probably be three or four. But the reason I left is I did not trust two or three people I was dealing with.

JF: You received some stick from some former Antrim players too.

DF: The likes of Liam Watson or Gary O'Kane and that, I take with a pinch of salt. They were decent players but I don't think they have the experience to talk much about management. I was disappointed how Sambo (McNaughton) came out before the Offaly game last year. He's someone I'd have time for, so he is. I think he might have understood a bit more as it was going on. I know he has Antrim at heart and I know one or two positive things he did for us this year, which is something I appreciate.

JF: It leaves you at the age of 54 with some time on your hands. Is this the end of inter-county management for you?

DF: I'm still relatively young as regards a manager but I don't know what's ahead. My mind right now is on taking a break, but we will go to matches, spend a bit more time with my family. If something grabs me that I really want to do, you'd never know. I laugh when I see all these photoshops going around of me as manager of this team there or a soccer team there. If it makes you laugh and you want to put it out there, work away. 

I think the big thing with me is I love being with teams that aren’t given a chance or I love being successful where it hasn't gone right previously. I’m very much open to what will be, will be. I will be going to the Joe McDonagh and Leinster finals. I'm going to go to the Munster final. I'm definitely going to be at Clare games as much as possible. Clare is my love no matter what, that's not going to change, no matter who's or who’s not over them. I have an awful affinity with a lot of Clare players I worked with.

JF: How do you see the championship working out?

DF: Did all three teams who could make the Munster final last weekend want to make it? 100%. There's no point saying different. Like, we in Clare haven't won since ’98. We wanted to get there. Waterford were a small bit unlucky like my last year when a bad refereeing decision in the draw game against Tipperary with the square ball cost us and the unlucky (65) call in the Clare game. I hope Peter (Queally) and the lads stay on and give it another crack. 

Clare won't be happy with the two defeats they've had. Trust me, Clare have a chance. We need to find a way to keep it tight because our forwards are good enough to match anyone. Don't write us off just yet.

Cork and Limerick, it'll be an epic Munster final. Ben O'Connor seems to have knocked something more out of them and I thought Pat Ryan did a phenomenal job and I wasn't sure why he left. Pat was someone who sent me a lovely text during the year when I wasn't getting results and that's the man Pat Ryan is. Ben is now in there and even when they're missing players now, it doesn't seem to be an issue. The resolve seems to be a bit stronger. Limerick will be a small bit hurt from last year and they might win just about. 

In Leinster, (Micheál) Donoghue and his backroom team have done well, blending youth with experience. I don't know if they're All-Ireland contenders right now, but I definitely see it over the next two or three years. Dublin, I knew since Niall (Ó Ceallacháin) came in last year, he was very organised, has a system of play. Maybe not as consistent as he needs to be. If you look at one or two of the games, he drops off at times, but they definitely know what they're doing. I think Galway will win it, but I think Dublin won't be far off.

JF: Refereeing performances in the Liam MacCarthy Cup this year have been strong but is it an area the GAA needs to work on?

DF: I actually don’t have an issue with the free on the 20-metre line for dissent. I would ask though where's the accountability for the referee making bad decisions? When I get on to Donal Smyth (GAA national match officials manager), I actually find him good, but it's not enough. It’s very hard for us to go and ask about x, y, and z after a game. My point is, is it the same all the time consistently for both sides? I'd love to see the referees get more help. It shouldn't be a them or us thing, and that's something I'd love to see. I’d also like if referees had their own teams for every game, people they can trust.

JF: If you had one suggestion for John Meyler’s new hurling workgroup?

DF: The buzzer like the football. If it’s seen to stop the clock and everybody knows that it’s stopped there’s no variability at the end of 70 minutes. It hurt us against Down last year and I could not find the extra time played at the end and we lost the game over that. The half can end when the ball goes out of play after the hooter but it should come into hurling.