There is no bigger name in modern day Hurling than the current Wexford manager David Fitzgerald of Sixmilebridge. The man is box office and in era where so many players and managers have become robotic in their persona, a character like Davy really is necessary to keep bums on seats and help keep Hurling in the public eye of the arm chair sports fan. His exploits outside of hurling on RTE’s “Ireland’s fittest family” and “Davy’s toughest team” has expanded his appeal. It always seemed to be the way that Davy needed hurling but such is his current celebrity status it’s now simply the case that hurling needs Davy.
In the midst of all of this celebrity clamour it seems that the results of his Wexford team have been allowed to slip by with some but not enough proper critique. When Wexford were hammered in both of their championship games in 2020 it was a litany of excuses after both results. After being hammered by his native county Clare in a pathetic display of hurling, the focus was not on their performance but instead claims he was abused by a Clare official throughout the game. Its not the first time that he has turned a post match interview into a mirage of excuses rather than a focus on his team and most importantly his own management.
The “why always me” calls from Davy and his father Pat in recent months cry of men adamant on playing the pity card. Although I would be totally against anyone receiving abuse on a hurling field or a sideline, the power of the Fitzgerald empire was plain to see in a recent Late Late show appearance by Davy. The previous weeks GAA media was dominated with interviews on “bullying” and “online abuse” towards Davy and his father Pat (Clare county board secretary). The online abuse seems to have been a few throw away comments by a couple of Facebook users, hardly something that requires national media coverage. This was expanded on with a statement released by his club Sixmilebridge (who have benefitted from Pat Fitzgeralds tenure) bemoaning the tirades of abuse towards the two Sixmilebridge club men. Rather than focus on the actual problems at the heart of Clare hurling such as their lack of financial backing, the developments (or lack of) in Cusack Park and their underage structures, the focus has been turned into a host of articles highlighting how Pat Fitzgerald is trying his best and basically doesn’t warrant any constructive criticism. The whole media shindig concluded with an appearance on the Late Late show that Friday night, of course Tubridy knows about as much on inter county hurling as the HOTD knows about rocket science, so he and his research team gave Davy full control of the floor.
Of course, it is simply not good enough in an “amateur” game for any “volunteer” to receive abuse but like a lot of modern journalism not all of Davy’s previous actions were laid on the table. It must be remembered in all of this that Davy is magnifying how he has been targeted, yet some of his own actions on the sideline with teams has been disgraceful to say the least. Some of his “tactics” employed with LIT down through the years in the Fitzgibbon cup and his excursion with Jason Forde in a league quarter final spring to mind. It seems in mainstream media that Davy is currently untouchable.
One of the few people in modern GAA media is Colm Parkinson who will actually ask some of of the questions we want answered. I would encourage people to listen to the full GAA hour interview which is once again a collection of excuses from Davy despite Parkinson’s best efforts.
I struggle to think of anyone else in mainstream media who would ask the difficult questions, RTE would just have a Davy appreciation interview for example.
Parkinson is a brilliant interviewer and for the first time in a long time Davy was not allowed to sidestep questioning on his Wexford team but did dodge any constructive responses with a plethora of excuses, most of which were totally irrelevant to what happened on the field of play. I would love to see the Portlaois man on a mid week GAA show on the television to add to his podcasting efforts.
Anyway onto the interview with the key points. Davy…
- Didn’t want to talk about last year initially. Thankfully Parkinson got stuck in.
- He had nothing to do with the club hurling championship being ran off in a few weeks, Paul Galvin (Wexford football manager at the time) didn’t seem to be best pleased when interviewed recently in the Irish examiner GAA podcast.
- Claimed his players were training 6 days a week during football championship, then went back on it and claimed he didn’t have enough of his players to implement plans. After Galway hammered Wexford he claimed to trying four different formations. It was all a bit confusing.
- Very disappointed with Henry Shefflins comments that they were over coached and said “Henry did not do his homework and did not have a clue what he was talking about”, this is Henry Shefflin we are talking about.
- Davy commented on Wexford supporters that “You get a small bit of stick in Wexford but in general they are top class”, is he hinting that Wexford fans don’t demand victory as much as other counties?
- Tactics: delighted his team gets 40 shots off in a game, fails to mention most of them are from outside the scoring zone.
- Admitted to playing a sweeper with Sixmilebridge, failed to mention they basically play 13 behind the ball with wing backs on the overlap.
- Compared Wexford to Laois as a county that is doing well to be competing.
I could expand on all of them points but maybe the truth is the best example of some of Davy’s current managerial flaws can be seen from his own club side, Sixmilebridge.
In recent times he has led the club to more success with the one of the most even teams in club hurling, a squad with an abundance of hurlers that would make any club side in the country but no outstanding player to drive them to the Munster club they aim for.
Winning is all that matters and he has instilled a 13 man behind the ball strategy with the brilliant club forward Alex Morey up top and a breakaway game akin to the Donegal footballers in the early 10s. Unfortunately for the Bridge, they won’t win Munster clubs with this strategy but what really defines success? There are two sides of the coin, one would say they are doing very well to keep mopping up Clare titles, others would say if he actually let the players play they may be closer to the really big boys in the Munster club championship.
Comfort in the South East
The same comparison could be currently thrown at this Wexford side. Was the 2019 championship their Everest? Do they have any really exceptional players to lead them to all Ireland glory? Is there game plan limited with no goal threat due to lack of numbers up front? Are the Wexford county board and supporters happy to simply remain relevant in the Hurling world or do they too want to beat the big boys?
For now, it appears the main stakeholders in Wexford are firmly behind him.
The main players have begged him to return again, that being said Davy has shown huge loyalty to his trusted soldiers, would a new manager keep these same players on the pitch. I can’t imagine if I was one of the 16 players who saw no championship action I would be echoing the statements of starting players that got cleaned in double digit hammering’s.
The Wexford county board seem to be giving him backing for another year. They appear to be really well run in all departments. From a commercial point of view they are one of the first counties to appoint a full time commercial manager in former player Eanna Martin. They secured a high profile sponsorship, with Zurich in 2020 being a prime example. For all the costs in running an inter county team (and Davy’s set up is hardly cheap) I can only imagine that Davy’s ability to bring in revenue through gates, merchandise and sponsors is unparalleled to any other manager Wexford could appoint. They are getting a massive bang for a sizeable buck.
Their games development programmes surrounding the Hurling 365 initiative can only be helped with a figure head like Fitzgerald at the top of the county hurling tree.
There are of course the other backers of the county’s senior team who despite some public reservations on their style of play still believe he is the most capable trainer in getting this Wexford team past the winning post.
On the whole it appears Fitzgerald’s excuses of failure have been accepted for at least another year in the South east. The general mood among many of the real hurling people does not appear to be as emphatic , Martin Storey for example recently noted the lack of new blood which seems to be a common trend among many in the county who know their hurling. Fitzgerald seems to be content to keep picking the same players week in and week out which is grand when the results are good. The obvious limitations in their game plan being the other.
Wexford in 2021.
Again it must be noted the man has won every honour there is to win in the game. No matter where he goes, he generally gets results. It’s not a long term solution but if I was looking for a manager for instant success with a team you would be probably be not looking too far past Davy. He gets teams motivated, organised and defensively sound. That is what he has built in Wexford. After that it depends on the quality of his forwards as to whether that particular club, county or college can go all the way. Wexford don’t have a set of forwards like he did with Clare in 2013 or a Joe Canning/ Eoin Kelly type player who led LIT during their Fitzgibbon cup days. The likes of Rory O’Connor and Conor McDonald are very good hurlers in there own right but appear to be suffocated and out numbered with McDonald in particular often looking like a frustrated figure.
Davy always refers to how his teams get 40 shots away in games but this is standard in modern day inter county county Hurling. It is the nature of these shots that must be called into question. Many of the shots are from well outside the scoring zone which a basically a 55 yard “D” in the modern game. Although the modern hurler is well capable of scoring from outside this range the amount of wide’s increases with this strategy.
Such is the nature of Wexfords running game it requires overlaps and players taking on difficult shots going at full speed on the overlap. These shots are second nature to Tony Kelly but most players like hitting shots where they can set their feet going across the field. Limericks Peter Casey is a prime example of a player who always seems to get off shots in the scoring zone whilst going across the field.
There were huge problems with this overlap game when Galways basically set up a defensive wall on their own 65 last year. They also tracked the runners. Wexford were left playing the ball laterally and taking on shots on the back foot from miles out.
At the heart of the problem is the lack of any penetration inside with Wexford often having only one player inside the 45. Davy always seems to point out that other teams are playing with sweepers and deep lying half forwards but there is no county that compares to Wexford in this department.
Davy’s mantra of coaching is more Jose Mourinho than Pep Gaurdiola. It’s instant success built on the back of a strong defence. Long term, it’s hard for it to remain sustainable physically and mentally for players. Like most Mourinho management spells, he moves on with a whimper and I can’t see any other result for Wexford at the end of this year.
The Future
If and when he does move on from his tenure in Wexford there will be other counties that will come calling. Dublin is the most obvious proposition as Mattie Kenny is on his last chance saloon in the capital, Davy would bring a bit of energy to the hurling community akin to what his former team mate Anthony Daly did in the previous decade.
Dare I suggest that Cork may go outside the county to sort out their defensive frailties, it would spark huge debate in the people’s republic but hurling is a results based industry at this level. They do have the skilled hurlers down in Cork, could Davy be the man to add that defensive organisation to bring Liam McCarthy back to Lee-side.
There were also murmurs that Davy was in the running for the Galway job before Shane O’Neill was appointed. They have a history of Clare men at the helm. Counties like Offaly, Westmeath, Antrim and Laois would jump at the opportunity to appoint Fitzgerald if the budget allowed. As I said previously, the Wexford template in commercial revenue makes it an attractive proposition for all parties if an external backer is found.
I am sure there will always be a warm seat for him on the Sunday game panel and it could be nicely complimented with guest appearances on the club manager merry-go-round. One thing is for certain, there will always be a place for Davy on the sidelines and by-ways of elite Hurling management.
Hurler on the ditch 