This article is from page 68 of the 2011-08-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 68 JPG
IT wasn’t the time to be asking Davy Fitzgerald about the Clare job – not even the time to ask about his future with Waterford, but at the same time the inevitable question about 2012 had to be on the agenda.
And so it was, but Fitzgerald wasn’t about to give a headline, one way or the other. He stayed neutral. This was about the Waterford v Kilkenny game. In the bowels of the Hogan Stand wasn’t about speculating on where he’d be next year. Just the here and now.
“A lot of people thought we were absolutely going to get massacred and annihilated here again today. It didn’t happen. We’re so sorry to disappoint some people. I think we proved that point wrong,” said Fitzgerald.
“These guys hurt so badly after the Munster final. We all did. They stood up. They didn’t do the easy thing. They regrouped, and it shows fair character to come back. Listen, we were in that game today, we fought that game today, and I can tell you, Kilkenny know they were in a game today.
“From where we were four weeks ago, we’ve come a long way. It wasn’t easy when I had to face all ye guys and for the lads to pick themselves up the way they did, it showed unbelievable character.
“I am so proud of the guys, it’s unreal. Sometimes you need a bit of luck for things to go your way. If we were to beat Kilkenny we needed everything to go our way.
“That second goal will haunt me. It will haunt me. To me it changed the game. If we could have hung on until half-time we would have gotten some confidence. I think if you see their second goal, Tommy Walsh clearly pushed a guy. There was a throw hand-pass. That is two instances in the one play. Let me say categorically that Barry Kelly had a good game, but small little things make a difference. If we had gone in at half-time two or three points down instead of six it would have been a different ball game. “With 31 minutes gone, we were two or three points down. (We) had the chance of a goal, missed it. Could’ve taken a point… next thing… there was a thrown hand pass and it’s down in the net (for Kilkenny’s second goal). That’s a massive turning point, that second goal is,” Fitzgerald added.