IN the throes of every pre-season Paddy Burke promises himself it’ll be his last. But there are pre-seasons and then there is pre-season under Davy Fitzgerald.
During his own playing days, the two-time All-Ireland winning Clare goalkeeper was renowned for his obsessive approach to training.
In his 2005 book on hurling goalkeepers entitled, ‘Last Man Standing’, Christy O’Connor provided insight into how the Sixmilebridge man went about preparing for games.
“A month before the Championship, Fitzgerald will take two weeks off work to train twice, sometimes three times, every single day,” writes O’Connor.
“You walk into Dunsilly a couple of hours before training and the place is bouncing with music - it’s a really good place to be for players who want to be the best that they can be” Antrim’s Paddy Burke
Offaly hurling legend Johnny Pilkington talks facing Antrim, the Faithful future and what Davy Fitzgerald brings to the Saffrons
“In the six weeks before the Championship he will still continue to train twice during most days… Everything he does at sport is driven by an elemental instinct to win and to be number one.”
Fitzgerald has carried the same fanaticism into management which has yielded an All-Ireland with Clare in 2013 and provincial success with Waterford (2010) and Wexford (2019).
So, when the Antrim hurlers knew Fitzgerald was coming, the road probably got a little steeper.
“They’re all hard!” says Burke of pre-season training.
“Every time you do a pre-season you say I’m never doing another one again. And then you think it couldn’t have been as hard as I remember.
“It’s been brilliant this year. It’s something fresh. It’s been hard going, the training has been hard, but we need to do that if we want to go up another level.
“We obviously made great progress over the last few years and we’re still an ambitious group.
“We trying to get to another level and it takes something we’ve never done before, so there have been lots of learning.
“But it’s not like you’re going out yourself and slogging on your own. We’re doing it together and that’s what helps bond a team.”
Antrim suffered a deeply disappointing 14-point opening day loss to Dublin at Croke Park in Division 1B but bounced back to winning ways against Westmeath at Corrigan Park last Sunday, with Burke being called ashore with a few minutes remaining to protect a nagging heel injury having already been the best player on the field.
Burke feels Antrim are “very lucky” to have an All-Ireland winning manager taking the reins after five fruitful years previously under Tipperary’s Darren Gleeson.
“There couldn’t not be buzz about the place,” Burke adds. “We’ve an All-Ireland winning manager coming to manage Antrim. When you think about it, we’re very lucky to have him.
“This group has been building for a good few years. For the latter half of my career, we’ve had a really good bond. We love each other’s company. We’re all striving to go up the levels. It’s tough but it’s enjoyable.
“There’s a good mix between having the craic and working hard.
“You walk into Dunsilly a couple of hours before training and the place is bouncing with music; you’re in and around the kitchen, boys are coming from work, some boys are finishing their work with their laptops with them - it’s a really good place to be for players who want to be the best that they can be and who enjoy being part of an ambitious group.”
Much has been made of the stylistic changes Fitzgerald is making from the previous regime under Gleeson.
Fitzgerald has gained a lot of success from playing a sweeper system with long ball going into a two-man full-forward line.
Against the Dubs, Antrim looked tense and unsure of themselves and got little joy from launching balls into their full-forwards.
Eight days later against Westmeath, they were more relaxed and cantered to a 2-25 to 1-19 home win by mixing their long and short game.
There weren’t many discernible changes to how Antrim approached the Westmeath game from last year, with Nigel Elliott and James McNaughton grabbing a goal apiece.
Burke also feels the perceived tactical shift under Fitzgerald isn’t as radical as what some observers believe it to be.
“That’s maybe people looking in from the outside but when you look at what every team is doing – they have someone sitting in front of their full-back line, they want to defend together and attack together.
“We’re doing the same as any other team is doing, but there are things we’re learning, different movement patterns, where we’re playing the ball and how we’re setting up. We’re wanting to get to a new level and to do that we have to get better at everything.”
Antrim travel to Tullamore to face a resurgent Offaly side on Sunday who came through their away tie to Laois with nine points to spare.
While Fitzgerald has tried to downplay Antrim’s hopes of promotion out of a rejigged Division 1B that features Dublin, Westmeath, Offaly, Laois, Waterford and Carlow, Burke is looking beyond mere consolidation.
“In previous years you’d be going out to play the likes of Dublin in a Walsh Cup game and you’d be thinking, ‘There’s such and such – I’ve been watching him play’. That’s gone within this group, and obviously Darren [Gleeson] helped change that mindset; the whole thing is changing.
“You don’t look at any teams like that anymore. We’re as equal to any team or any individual player. Why not go for promotion?
“Why else are we here if it’s just to stay in the division? We want to kick on from where we were.”