THE DISAPPOINTMENT WAS etched all over Davy Fitzgerald’s face when he arrived into the auditorium under the Hogan Stand for his post-match press conference.
Kilkenny needed extra-time to shake off Wexford, surviving a sin bin for Eoin Murphy in extra-time to eventually prevail by 2-37 to 2-29 in an epic contest.
“Probably for people watching it, and I seen a few texts afterwards, they said it was an unbelievable game of hurling ,” Fitzgerald told us.
“Great games don’t mean anything to me. Winning means everything.
“I feel we were the better team in the 70 minutes, that’s my honest opinion. I think one or two little things went against us. But you have to say fair play to Kilkenny, they’ll never give in, they’ll stay with you all the time. Total respect for that. But I honestly believe we were the better team in the 70 minutes.
“I thought a big turning point was Jack O’Connor’s free. I 100% believe that was a free to Wexford. Eoin Murphy gets it and puts it over the bar. So instead of us being two points up, it was a two-point swing.
“In saying that, you have to respect the game of hurling. It was a massive game of hurling. But Kilkenny aren’t better than us. It is right there, thereabouts. We know we are every bit as good as them. I think that showed today.
“Naturally, I am a bit hurt. And I do feel it is hard to take that because we had it right there, and you are hurting.
“But I am sure if Kilkenny went through it, they’d pick one or two themselves. That is just how I feel. There wasn’t a dirty stroke in it. It was very manly stuff out there. It was hard-hitting. It is so hard to take a loss like that. I feel so sorry for my guys. Eight points wasn’t the margin, everybody knows that. We were just gone at the end.
“Rory O’Connor happens to get that touch inside at the end, the whole game swings our way with momentum. It’s absolutely gut-wrenching from our point of view. I thought we were there today.”
He’d ideally have preferred a replay rather than extra-time, but the tight timeframe to run off the championship meant he had little complaints that the winner had to be decided on the day.
“I suppose they have to do it. I can’t say anything. It is not ideal. I’d rather we could have come back next, we’d have some craic.
“I could see James McGarry’s reaction when they got the second goal. He nearly jumped out of the stand and came down to tell me about it. So it must have meant a lot to them which is great. And fair play to him, I’m glad to see his enthusiasm is so big, but I won’t forget it. We’ll keep it stored, so we will.”
He admitted Wexford’s hard running game meant it was a game they probably needed to win in the 70 minutes. The All-Ireland winning player and manager bemoaned the absence of Joe O’Connor, Damien Reck and Aidan Nolan.
All three are on the comeback trail from injury but Fitzgerald felt they where at risk of injury if he threw them into a game of that magnitude.
“I could have half-chanced them but if they pulled a hamstring, I wouldn’t forgive myself.
“We had a lot of lads that hadn’t the experience that’d we require. I’d love to have had the three of them available for today. It would have made a massive, massive difference to the way we play. We play a game that is built on running. Absolutely ran ourselves into the ground, couldn’t get any more out of ourselves.
“If you come off a game and you get 110 percent off your players and they can’t give you any more, I couldn’t ask another thing off them. They gave me everything we had. Did we make a few mistakes?
“I know there was one or two players today who gave away one or two balls, I know there were two or three points we gave away that we shouldn’t be giving away. We handed scores over. I don’t know if the wides today was around 15-7.
“We have to take the chances when we get them. It hurts a lot. We knew the league was nothing, we knew today was everything and we thought we were ready for it.”
Since arriving in Wexford five years ago, their clashes with Kilkenny in Leinster have been highly entertaining affairs. It’s a rivalry he greatly enjoy being part of.
“Absolutely adore it, absolutely want to be in the thick of that. I don’t fear Kilkenny, never have, never will. I love playing against them.
“When I see in my dressing-room how hurt they were, that makes such a difference. Because if they didn’t hurt, it is no good. I just hope we can regroup.
“Today will have an effect because we were 100% convinced we were going to win today and it hurts. You get the little kick and you have got to get back up again.”
When asked if he’s conscious of his time as Wexford boss ticking down, he responded:
“How many years has Brian Cody done? My honest opinion is that I think you in the media sometimes put pressure on managers if they are there for four or five years they should be going. I don’t know what’ll happen. I can’t answer it. Maybe, maybe not. Whatever feels right is the thing. I don’t know what’ll happen.
“People said to me, Brian Cody’s time in Kilkenny is up, they need some fresh blood, and they need x, y, and z. The biggest load of rubbish I have ever heard in my life. If Kilkenny people are thinking that, they need to have another look at that.
“What he has done is incredible. He is building a new team again, and he is going again. His fire, steel, and determination… listen, every other team would be delighted if Brian went. You might think you’d have a quick answer.
“You can’t beat knowledge and experience. That’s being totally honest. I would have massive respect for him, but I want to go to war against him again.”
8,000 supporters were permitted into Croke Park for the Leinster semi-final double-header, the largest crowd at any GAA game since March 2020.
Fitzgerald called on the government to allow greater crowds into games.
“The size of Croke Park is more than able to cope for 8,000 safely. Out in the open, we all know transmission won’t happen too freely. We need to really have a look at [crowd sizes].
“I would urge the Government to let people out and about in the fresh air. I think Croke Park can do it, I think other stadiums can do it. Even the people there today, they were on the edge of their seats.
“My own personal view is I’d love to see it open up a small bit. I don’t think we’ll get back anything full for a while, but we could maybe go a small bit more. The GAA isn’t anything without the supporter.
“We need the supporter there. It makes such a difference to the players and the way the game is played The difference between last year’s championship and what we played out there, it is massive.”