Fired up Fitzy still gunning for grand slams

Over 20 years on, Davy Fitzgerald still wants to win everything as badly as ever, writes Anthony Daly

Sat, 03 Feb, 2018 - 00:00

Two‑time All‑Ireland–winning captain and former Dublin and Clare manager, Anthony Daly, is a much-respected pundit and columnist as well as ringmaster in chief on the hugely-popular Dalo’s Hurling Show.

When we went to Thailand with Clare on the team holiday after winning the All-Ireland in 1995, we spent a week in Pattaya. It was warm in Bangkok but the heat was something savage when we went further south. There were beads of sweat on my beads of sweat. All I was able for most days was to throw myself across a sun lounger.

A short stroll for a cold beer was an ordeal but, lo and behold, Davy Fitz and Jamesie O’Connor decided one afternoon to go playing tennis. It wasn’t just a few handy backhands and forehands across the net because it turned into a five-set epic. Neither of the two boys would back down. Both wanted to win. It was like Nadal and Federer before any of us knew who they were.