By his own admission he’s crazy lucky, maybe even plain crazy, and sure what’s another year? When he’s coming up on 30 already without a sniff of a break then the Davy Fitzgerald that’s not busy being born is busy dying.
“Every summer is gone,” he says. “You’ve no life. That’s it. It’s gone. But you know what? I’ve no regrets on any of it. I’m a lucky, lucky person to be involved at the top level. And I know that.”
His luck began in 1989, aged 17, when Fitzgerald was first asked into the Clare senior hurling panel as a reserve goalkeeper: two All-Irelands later, he retired in 2008, then a few months after that took over as Waterford manager. He hasn’t once paused since.
From there he went back to his native Clare, and another All-Ireland later, started with Wexford two years ago: last month Fitzgerald agreed to go for a third year, although not entirely sure he wanted to, or indeed was wanted – until . . .
“There was a small bit of deliberation, yeah. There was something else in the pipeline – it wasn’t managing another team – but something else I would have been interested in doing, that I was looking at.
“And travelling up and down to Wexford 100 or 125 times a year is a tough enough task. One time this year, whether it was February or March, I met three or four crashes on the way up. There was a month there when the weather was absolutely horrendous, it wasn’t pretty driving.
“But in fairness, what made my mind up is when the lads came down to see me. I think it was 15 or 16 of them. And I had another 16 texts on my phone – there was an under-21 game the same day. That’s very unusual that you’d get that. Because normally you have the last 10 or 12 guys on any panel who’d love a change, because they’re never seeing any action.
“After about five minutes, I was sold. They’re actually an unbelievable bunch. I actually couldn’t speak highly enough of them. I’d have been happy for the two years, but I hope the third one is the same. And I’d miss it.”
‘New lease of life’
Clearly he hasn’t paused too long for thought, but 2019 will be his 30th consecutive season to be involved with a senior hurling team, as either a player of manager: does he ever tired of it?
“When you add it that up like that, it’s 30 at the top level, which is a lot. I actually knew when I was coming into my fifth year with Clare, and I had indicated it a few times, and I knew myself, yeah, ‘I’m kinda done’.
“But when I went down to Wexford, it gave me a new lease of life again. And it’s something I’ve really been enjoying. I’d love to see if I could just get them over the line, lads. They’re such a passionate county. Oh my God.”
The season ended against his native Clare, losing a quarter-final 0-27 to 1-17, part of the disappointment being Wexford’s own shortcomings: “If you look at the Kilkenny game and the Dublin game, we were hitting hard and putting in serious tackles. I don’t think we laid glove on Clare.
“I knew that they were a bit tired. But I would have massive affection for them and the way they handle themselves. It’s hard to tell you how much they work and how much they want to get there. I’d love them to get there.”
The journey begins again in November, when Fitzgerald takes his Wexford team to Boston for the Fenway Hurling Classic, the Super-11’s competition organised by the GAA and the GPA, which will also feature All-Ireland champions Limerick, plus Clare and Cork.
Seeing Limerick win the title this summer gave him further hope, if not belief, that Wexford can soon do likewise. He’s also seen managers come and go – Pat Gilroy leaving Dublin, Liam Sheedy returning to Tipperary – and his own selector Padraic Fanning has taken over the Waterford job.
“I was disappointed to see Pat go, I think he’d done a lot of good work. I do. But Liam [Sheedy], yeah, I’m delighted to see him back. He’s fiery on the sideline. So that could make for good TV during the year. And he won’t be found wanting when it comes to referees. So I’ll have another ally out there.”
He is, though not by his own admission, a little less crazy on the sideline these days, possibly because his doctor had advised him to take a break after the five years with Clare.
“Listen, I feel great. I don’t think I’d be happy if I had to stop and do nothing. Life is there to be lived, to go through it as much as possible. You don’t know what’s around the corner. I’m in a position where I visit a lot of sick people, I don’t talk about it too much but you know what, but it makes me appreciate everything we have. And all of us should realise that any day we can get up there and do our stuff, it’s a good day.”
