On Sunday, Davy Fitzgerald aims to become only the third Clareman to guide a team to All-Ireland hurling success, following in the footsteps of Jim Hehir and Ger Loughnane. TJ Flynn examines some of the roles Fitzgerald has filled within his own county.

As the 2002 season was beginning, those charged with developing hurling in Ennistymon knew they had a difficult summer ahead. Numbers had been dropping off in training and interest among some players was beginning to wane.
A dedicated group from both inside and outside the club had allowed the game evolve over the past few years, but even with a strong foundation, things were beginning to plateau.
Tom Stackpool was given the job of injecting some life into the set-up and came up with the idea of approaching Davy Fitzgerald.
“Davy would have known of me only in my capacity as a referee and aside from that, we wouldn’t really have known one-another,” says Stackpool.
As hurling outposts go, Ennistymon – tucked away in North West Clare - is on the periphery and so Stackpool wasn’t sure what reaction would greet him when he laid out his plan to bring Fitzgerald on board as coach and manager.

They met in Ennis but almost immediately, Stackpool relaxed.
“After a few minutes, Davy realised where I was coming from. He knew my request was straight up and in fairness, he didn’t make any big deal about it.
“You knew he was a Clareman with hurling in his blood and you knew he’d do anything to promote hurling in this county. That’s how he looked on it. He made no demands on us at all. All he was interested in was getting things right for the players. Getting proper equipment, getting hurleys, getting sliotars.
“As the conversation went on, I brought up the issue of expenses, but it wasn’t an issue with Davy. Again, he was only concerned with the players and getting things right there.”
With Fitzgerald in place, he went about meeting club officials and players and from there, enthusiasm began to grow.
“Straight away, players liked his approach to training. It was all ball work and for us, that was something of a new move. You could see the lads responding to what he asked them to do. Lads weren’t just showing up for training for the sake of it – they actually wanted to train.”
During Fitzgerald’s time in charge of the team, Pascal Malone – at the time involved in coaching at underage level at Ennistymon - watched on and saw the progress being made and a number of things struck him.
“You’d see the lads going out training at 6 in the morning on a Saturday and this was the first time something like that would have happened at tha club. Davy would take them for breakfast afterwards and to be fair, there were as many lads at those early sessions as there would have been at the evening sessions.
“He trained in the dark, he trained early, he trained late. There were no excuses. He also had a big background team, maybe five or six fellas. They’d look after the logistical side of things and Davy could concentrate completely on what was going on during training. It was a professional set-up and after a while, that air of professionalism began to sink in.
“On top of that, the enthusiasm he had was something else. That was a huge part of it. He had as much hunger and appetite for Ennistymon hurling as any local guy.”
The initial understanding was that Fitzgerald would come in for a few months, but as time passed and as the club began to challenge for the Junior A championship, the manager began to settle into the club.
Having lost two county finals, the mountain was finally climbed on the third attempt, in 2004.
“He fitted in like a glove,” continues Stackpool. “When you look back now, you’d have to say we were at a low ebb and Davy came in and steadied the ship. We weren’t getting the commitment we needed from players but he changed all that. And he mainly did that through his training style and through the respect he gave lads.
“He was playing at the top level himself, but there were no big airs about him. He gave that respect to every hurler – no matter what their ability was – but the thing was, he demanded that respect back.”
That respect and enthusiasm that Stackpool and Malone speak of were aspects of Fitzgerald’s character that appealed to Michael Considine last year.
Considine was in charge of the Clare minor footballers and was on the lookout for an outside voice to help lift his players.
They had just been beaten by Limerick in a Munster championship replay and were faced with playing Tipperary a few days later.
“ I just asked him to come in and have a few words with the lads and withing two minutes, you could see that they were spellbound,” says Considine.
“You judge a situation like that by the look on lads’ faces and that evening in the Temple Gate you could hear a pin drop when he spoke.
“Nobody was messing with their mobile phone, nobody was looking at the walls. They were all focused on what he was saying.
“He told them how lucky and privilleged they were to be representing their county and told them to enjoy it and respect it, because you never know when you’re going to play your last game in the Saffron and Blue.”
After that talk, Considine sensed a buzz coming back into the panel, similar to the buzz Ennistymon experienced under his influence.
On Sunday, Waterford will hope that the Davy rush will stir them to deliver 70 minutes they’ll never forget.

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