This article is from page 96 of the 2009-08-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 96 JPG
DAVY Fitzgerald was never going to have an idle autumn following Waterford’s exit from the All-Ire- land championship at the semi-final stage to Kilkenny, but his return to the Clare fold had come much sooner than many expected.
He wasn’t in Cusack Park last Fri- day for Inagh/Kilnamona’s meeting with Scariff in the second round of the Clare Senior Championship, but he’ll be manning the sideline for the team affectionately known as “The Combo’.
Fitzgerald has agreed to join the Inagh/Kilnamona backroom team as they crank up their campaign to
reach the quarter-final stages of the competition for the second succes- sive year.
After an opening round defeat to county champions Clonlara_ they bounced back with a 0-16 to 1-11 win over Scariff and now face into their crunch final two games against Tulla and O’Callaghan’s Mills armed with the coaching acumen Fitzgerald will bring to their preparations.
And, Fitzgerald’s involvement with Inagh/Kilnamona could just be the first step of a much greater involve- ment with Clare hurling, with specu- lation rife that he could form one half of a partnership with Mike Mc- Namara to lead Clare senior hurling in 2009.
Fitzgerald himself has moved to distance himself such speculation, dismissing it as “gossip”, but such an arrangement would not be unprec- edented in the history of Clare hurl- ing.
In 1993 Ger Loughnane agreed to come on board as a Clare senior se- lector under Len Gaynor’s watch as manager on the understanding that he would automatically succeed the Tipperary man as manager. That changeover occurred a year later when Gaynor stepped down after Clare’s defeat to Limerick in the 1994 Munster final.
Now a similar arrangement could be brokered between McNamara and Fitzgerald. McNamara has said that
2009 “will definitely be my last year” if he’s reappointed for the coming season, while Fitzgerald has made no secret of this desire to become Clare manager.
Add to this that current senior se- lectors Alan Cunningham and Ollie Baker could be on the cusp of leav- ing the Clare fold and the door to Fitzgerald’s involvement is opened further. Fitzgerald has another year left on a two year arrangement with Waterford that was struck after the Deise reached the 2008 All-Ireland nue
Both the Clare senior hurling and football management positions are to be the subject of a special county board meeting later this month.