THE STORY OF Davy Fitzgerald getting to make the exit of his choosing leaves two separate stories in his wake.
Undoubtedly, ‘Where next for Davy?’ is the headline. The personality is bigger than the county and Antrim knew what they were getting into at the start of all this.
Where now for Antrim is a sidebar below the fold. A subtle plotline in the drama that most would miss.
It shouldn’t be that way.
If we are truly concerned about the long-term health of hurling; about the goals and aspirations of the Hurling Review Committee, to spread the cast of contenders for Liam MacCarthy, then Antrim are integral to the reach of the elite level of the sport into Ulster.
But, onto Davy.
It started so promisingly. He was no stranger to Antrim and there was an injection of whatever it is he brings. Gable walls of buildings beside Corrigan Park even heralded his arrival in time for the first league game.
A gable wall beside Corrigan Park with Fitzgerald's image. Leah Scholes / INPHO
Leah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO
On 26 October 2024, they met for the first time in Ballycastle. Players were split up into pods along with their clubmates and given a number of targets.
One was to have run 200 kilometres by Christmas. Rough accounting left this at three 9k runs each week. Some found that rough and one player actually polished off his 200th kilometre on Christmas morning.
There was a weekend in Ennis a fortnight before the start of the league. They played a Limerick selection on the Friday night before a full pitch session on Saturday morning.
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Saturday afternoon was spent go-karting, Saturday night on the pints and the following morning featured an 11k run around Cratloe Forest before heading back up the road.
The curiosity factor led to returns for Joe Maskey, Ryan McCambridge, Gerard Walsh and Eoin O’Neill. However, Ciaran Clarke opted out and Conal ‘Coby’ Cunning suffered a cruciate injury that December.
The results were OK in the league, beating Westmeath and Laois and drawing with Carlow to retain 1B status. The Leinster championship was poor, losing all five games on an average of 15 points, a 28-point loss to Galway the low point as they tumbled out of Leinster.
This year, they beat Carlow to stay up in the league but were shocked by losses to Kildare and Down. In the Joe McDonagh Cup, an opening day loss to Down and then Laois finished their aspirations before they concluded their year with three consecutive wins, after an attempted heave against Davy never got over the line.
James Lawlor / INPHO
James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
The end was messy. Apart from the row and fallout between the players and county board, Fitzgerald was put under pressure with comments from cult hero ‘Sambo’ McNaughton, who criticised the style of play.
You cannot say Fitzgerald is a bad manager. His record with Clare and Wexford and glimpses at Waterford shows he can deliver.
He also has a talent for forming relationships with players, leaving with James McNaughton’s endorsement; “When he first came up, we thought it was going to be a lot different . . . it just didn’t work out but I’ve a lot of time for him and always will.”
However, Fitzgerald is synonymous with a certain style of hurling that is cautious and exacting. With Antrim, he seemed to take this to an extreme.
Regular followers of Antrim were left tearing their hair out at the lack of forwards, with often just one attacker left upfield when they were without the ball.
If you want to play that game and absorb pressure, then you must be able to go forward with power to go past, around or through opponents.
Antrim didn’t have that.
Like many counties, Antrim have their own strength and conditioning coach in Brendan Murphy. How easy it would be, therefore, to lay the blame for this shortcoming at his door.
It’s not as simple as that. While the top teams in hurling and Gaelic football can rely on at least 20-25 players to form next year’s panel, Antrim suffer, like the majority, from churn.
Some players remain, perhaps even a good core. But the back-up are often younger players with promise who do not yet possess the training age of more seasoned players.
Added to that, the competitive season for Antrim would be lucky to stretch into a sixth or seventh month.
After that, you are relying on players to be, as they say now, ‘gym compliant.’ And not everyone is a Neil McManus.
The knock-on effect of the flagship team of any county going well drives attendances at games, increases interest and, ergo, passion and participation explodes.
Antrim have a tradition of outside managers stretching back to Justin McCarthy putting his time to good use while recuperating from a leg break from a motorcycle accident that stopped him hurling for Cork. Instead, he coached Antrim to an All-Ireland intermediate title in 1970.
It’s a recurring theme that outside managers soon get a huge land once they take the job.
When they look at Antrim hurling from the outside, they hear of a thriving club scene. Some reconnaissance missions would involve a trip to watch a weekend of club championship where emotional restraint is unheard of and the quality is high.
A street vendor sells braids before an Antrim county final. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
“Their club scene, I actually love,” said Fitzgerald at the time of his appointment. He had participated in the past as a guest coach with Dunloy.
“I think the club scene in Antrim is really good. I’m hoping that I can bring that to the county level. Can’t promise, but that’s what I am hoping and that’s what I am excited about.”
However, this alchemy does not always transfer to the county scene, with a succession of managers including Kevin Ryan marvelling at the passion of the club scene but reluctance among players to come out for the county.
A county such as Antrim deserves better. And as Neil McManus said recently on The Sunday Game, Antrim people have to be part of the solution.
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With the help of National Head of Hurling, Willie Maher, a hurling review committee was established in Antrim last October.
Headed up by former county player and selector Gregory O’Kane, they targeted the development of teenagers from the age of 14, tying 50 clubs in with five schools that would be exposed to athletic development and a higher standard of competition in the Leinster competitions.
So when it came to senior hurling, they were already familiar with the standards that apply in Leinster.
This was going to take money. They estimated £200,000 (€232,000) and formulated a business plan to target certain businesses. Clubs were enthusiastic and they know that the right recruitment was essential.
However, the plans are now kept in a holding pattern until they can be green lighted by the county board.
As for Fitzgerald, there’s always a next move. It’s difficult to see a top Munster county approaching him. A Kerry or Kildare might be more realistic.
Back in August 2024 when his appointment was confirmed, we wrote: “There is a feeling Fitzgerald’s time as a manager of a potential All Ireland winner is over. His options have winnowed out.”
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The leaving of Davy Fitz leaves Antrim with familiar uncertainty
THE STORY OF Davy Fitzgerald getting to make the exit of his choosing leaves two separate stories in his wake.
Undoubtedly, ‘Where next for Davy?’ is the headline. The personality is bigger than the county and Antrim knew what they were getting into at the start of all this.
Where now for Antrim is a sidebar below the fold. A subtle plotline in the drama that most would miss.
It shouldn’t be that way.
If we are truly concerned about the long-term health of hurling; about the goals and aspirations of the Hurling Review Committee, to spread the cast of contenders for Liam MacCarthy, then Antrim are integral to the reach of the elite level of the sport into Ulster.
But, onto Davy.
It started so promisingly. He was no stranger to Antrim and there was an injection of whatever it is he brings. Gable walls of buildings beside Corrigan Park even heralded his arrival in time for the first league game.
On 26 October 2024, they met for the first time in Ballycastle. Players were split up into pods along with their clubmates and given a number of targets.
One was to have run 200 kilometres by Christmas. Rough accounting left this at three 9k runs each week. Some found that rough and one player actually polished off his 200th kilometre on Christmas morning.
There was a weekend in Ennis a fortnight before the start of the league. They played a Limerick selection on the Friday night before a full pitch session on Saturday morning.
Saturday afternoon was spent go-karting, Saturday night on the pints and the following morning featured an 11k run around Cratloe Forest before heading back up the road.
The curiosity factor led to returns for Joe Maskey, Ryan McCambridge, Gerard Walsh and Eoin O’Neill. However, Ciaran Clarke opted out and Conal ‘Coby’ Cunning suffered a cruciate injury that December.
The results were OK in the league, beating Westmeath and Laois and drawing with Carlow to retain 1B status. The Leinster championship was poor, losing all five games on an average of 15 points, a 28-point loss to Galway the low point as they tumbled out of Leinster.
This year, they beat Carlow to stay up in the league but were shocked by losses to Kildare and Down. In the Joe McDonagh Cup, an opening day loss to Down and then Laois finished their aspirations before they concluded their year with three consecutive wins, after an attempted heave against Davy never got over the line.
The end was messy. Apart from the row and fallout between the players and county board, Fitzgerald was put under pressure with comments from cult hero ‘Sambo’ McNaughton, who criticised the style of play.
You cannot say Fitzgerald is a bad manager. His record with Clare and Wexford and glimpses at Waterford shows he can deliver.
He also has a talent for forming relationships with players, leaving with James McNaughton’s endorsement; “When he first came up, we thought it was going to be a lot different . . . it just didn’t work out but I’ve a lot of time for him and always will.”
However, Fitzgerald is synonymous with a certain style of hurling that is cautious and exacting. With Antrim, he seemed to take this to an extreme.
Regular followers of Antrim were left tearing their hair out at the lack of forwards, with often just one attacker left upfield when they were without the ball.
If you want to play that game and absorb pressure, then you must be able to go forward with power to go past, around or through opponents.
Antrim didn’t have that.
Like many counties, Antrim have their own strength and conditioning coach in Brendan Murphy. How easy it would be, therefore, to lay the blame for this shortcoming at his door.
It’s not as simple as that. While the top teams in hurling and Gaelic football can rely on at least 20-25 players to form next year’s panel, Antrim suffer, like the majority, from churn.
Some players remain, perhaps even a good core. But the back-up are often younger players with promise who do not yet possess the training age of more seasoned players.
Added to that, the competitive season for Antrim would be lucky to stretch into a sixth or seventh month.
After that, you are relying on players to be, as they say now, ‘gym compliant.’ And not everyone is a Neil McManus.
The knock-on effect of the flagship team of any county going well drives attendances at games, increases interest and, ergo, passion and participation explodes.
Antrim have a tradition of outside managers stretching back to Justin McCarthy putting his time to good use while recuperating from a leg break from a motorcycle accident that stopped him hurling for Cork. Instead, he coached Antrim to an All-Ireland intermediate title in 1970.
It’s a recurring theme that outside managers soon get a huge land once they take the job.
When they look at Antrim hurling from the outside, they hear of a thriving club scene. Some reconnaissance missions would involve a trip to watch a weekend of club championship where emotional restraint is unheard of and the quality is high.
“Their club scene, I actually love,” said Fitzgerald at the time of his appointment. He had participated in the past as a guest coach with Dunloy.
“I think the club scene in Antrim is really good. I’m hoping that I can bring that to the county level. Can’t promise, but that’s what I am hoping and that’s what I am excited about.”
However, this alchemy does not always transfer to the county scene, with a succession of managers including Kevin Ryan marvelling at the passion of the club scene but reluctance among players to come out for the county.
A county such as Antrim deserves better. And as Neil McManus said recently on The Sunday Game, Antrim people have to be part of the solution.
With the help of National Head of Hurling, Willie Maher, a hurling review committee was established in Antrim last October.
Headed up by former county player and selector Gregory O’Kane, they targeted the development of teenagers from the age of 14, tying 50 clubs in with five schools that would be exposed to athletic development and a higher standard of competition in the Leinster competitions.
So when it came to senior hurling, they were already familiar with the standards that apply in Leinster.
This was going to take money. They estimated £200,000 (€232,000) and formulated a business plan to target certain businesses. Clubs were enthusiastic and they know that the right recruitment was essential.
However, the plans are now kept in a holding pattern until they can be green lighted by the county board.
As for Fitzgerald, there’s always a next move. It’s difficult to see a top Munster county approaching him. A Kerry or Kildare might be more realistic.
Back in August 2024 when his appointment was confirmed, we wrote: “There is a feeling Fitzgerald’s time as a manager of a potential All Ireland winner is over. His options have winnowed out.”
Perhaps even more, now.
**
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Antrim BYE BYE DAVY Hurling on the road again Where next?