CLARE had talented hurlers but they lacked direction and, as Kilkenny and Tipperary threatened to dip over the horizon and out of sight, the Banner county reached out to one of their stars from the ‘95 and ‘97 All-Ireland-winning sides.
Davy Fitzgerald, who had taken Waterford to the Liam MacCarthy decider in 2008 and four consecutive semi-finals, answered his county’s call and at the end of his second season, Clare skipper Pat Donnellan had his hands on the Liam MacCarthy Cup, a feat the Bannermen didn’t repeat again until this summer.
Colin Ryan had made his senior debut in 2007 and had been part of Clare sides that yo-yoed up and down the National League and struggled to make an impression even at Munster Championship level.
Everything changed when Davy Fitz came in, Ryan recalls.
“To be honest, we were journeymen at the time and we were probably doing things below par,” he says.
“Tipp and Kilkenny had raised the bar around that time and we were flagging behind. So it was a case of: ‘Are we gonna just let them at it now?’ Davy came in and he upped our standards, he brought in a level of professionalism into Clare hurling that we hadn’t seen. He brought in Paul Kinnerk (coach) and a modern style of how we wanted to play and generally a real sense of enthusiasm and a want to win and to do the right things.
“Him coming in was a big milestone in my Clare career and I’d say it probably was for a lot of the lads. I’d have no All-Ireland without Davy because he raised the standards of Clare hurling at a time when we were at a bit of a crossroads.”
Everyone thinks they know ‘Davy Fitz’. He has a reputation for fist-pumping and play-for-the-jersey-lads motivation but that only gets a manager so far and Ryan says he quickly noticed an attention to detail that hadn’t been in the set-up before.
The gear was ready in the dressingroom, plans were in place for training, tactics were set out for games… The players saw the extra effort that was going in off the field and responded accordingly on it.
“He built a resilience in us,” says Ryan.
“He thought about everything and we did more things together as a group. We had more trips, we prepared together, we analysed games, he got good people around him… As regards training, we probably trained a bit more than we had in previous years but Davy brought in a lot more strength and conditioning and analysis so it wasn’t all about flogging us.
“Joe O’Connor (S&C coach) was a really bright guy and he wouldn’t let Davy go too mad because he knew lads would break down so there was a scientific approach.”
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That mixture of old school hard work and modern methods turned a talented group into the 2013 Liam MacCarthy Cup winners. Ryan contributed 70 points over eight games (he was the top scorer in the Championship) as Clare recovered from losing to Cork in the Munster Championship to beating the Rebels in the All-Ireland final after a replay.
“We had a good group of players coming through,” says Ryan.
“The likes of Tony (Kelly), Podge (Collins) and Colm Galvin and all them had had a lot of success and we needed someone who could harness and use that and Davy was right place/right time. He was the right man for those lads at that time.”
The disappointment for the Banner County was that the success of 2013 wasn’t repeated. Clare fell from grace over the next three campaigns and in 2016, after five seasons at the helm, Fitzgerald walked away.
“An awful lot that went on after 2013 was down to the internal politics that went on,” says Ryan.
“There was an awful lot of stuff and it made life hard for the (management) set-up. Davy probably took things personally and it ended up with people seeing either side of the coin.
“But the one thing I will say about Davy is: When he’s with you, he’s fully with you. The players in Clare will know that and I’m sure the players in Waterford and Wexford would all say that. When he’s with you, he’s fully with you and I’m sure going up to Antrim now he’ll be putting the full lot into it.
“He’s committed, probably to the stage where his commitment is next-level. He probably doesn’t always see that lads have jobs sometimes! His full purpose is GAA but I think he’s getting used to that and seeing that lads have a bit of perspective outside of the game.”
AS English songwriter Ralph McTell’s ballad tells: ‘It’s a long way from Clare to here’ and Fitzgerald, who had spells managing Waterford, Wexford and the Cork camogs since his time with the Banner County ended, is now facing a 400-plus round trip from the Banner County to Antrim training sessions.
Whatever financial package is in place for him will be earned, says Ryan.
“Him going to Antrim… It’s different,” said the Newmarket-on-Fergus native.
“He is going down a level and that’s not a criticism of Antrim, it’s just in terms of where he has been before. Waterford and Clare were up there and Wexford was a funny one in terms of how they were flagging behind Kilkenny for a long time.
“It was tough for him to pick them up because they wanted success and he won a Leinster title with them.
“But the Antrim job is very different, your marker for success is different there than it is in Clare or Waterford and maybe Wexford is in between. He’ll know that, he’s not a fool and he’ll be looking at making sure that Antrim stay in the Leinster Championship and are competitive. To maybe get to a Leinster final or come third (in the group stage) and get to an All-Ireland quarter-final.
“You really have to care about hurling to go up there. There have been great people who’ve gone up there like Darren Gleeson and Liam Sheedy. They are good hurling men who wanted to succeed up there and that’s what the GAA is really all about, isn’t it?
“People will throw around the money side of things but having a big character up there really does boost the profile of the county. Somebody might say that money is the driving factor but if somebody offered me all the money in the world I don’t think I’d be up for that.
“No matter what you’re getting, it’s taking a lot of time because you’re driving three and-a-half or four hours to go to training. It takes you away from home, it’s a big sacrifice and this probably is a job to Davy and he’ll take it on like that. It’s a role that he’s going to throw everything into.
“Money isn’t talked about in the GAA and people will be very quick to bring it up when somebody is going up to Antrim but if they’re going to sacrifice their time like that then they should be paid for it.”