Munster Express Online

There was a glint in the eye of Davy Fitzgerald in the Semple Stadium tunnel as the press pack’s tape recorders were clicked into record mode.

As his old mentor Ger Loughnane was striding into the Thurles daylight and potentially into the Galway managerial abyss, the new Waterford bainisteoir was happy, but far from ecstatic with his team’s success.

You don’t need to know Fitzgerald well to know he’s relishing his new job. It simply beams from every inch of his frame.

Short of bear-hugging County Chairman Pat Flynn, the feel-good factor, verve and enthusiasm he’s injected into Waterford’s hurling summer couldn’t be more evident.

“A win is a win and any time you win is good,” were his opening comments upon emerging from the Offaly dressing room.

“Offaly put us to the pin of our collar but I’d been saying that all week and people were laughing at me…Guys were battling for their lives outside there today and they played really well.”

He continued: “I’d have taken, if told before the game, a one-point win. I’m happy with the win, but we still have stuff to improve on. There’s no need to get carried away with anything, both on the sideline (and) on the field we have stuff we can improve on. And if we’re to battle Wexford, we’re going to have to improve.”

Loathe as managers are to single out individual efforts, Fitzgerald was pleased with how Waterford fared defensively against an Offaly attack which had shredded Limerick the previous Saturday.

“Well we’ve played two championship matches and we’ve conceded no goals,” he said.

“If it doesn’t work out back there, I’ll get slaughtered as regards Ken McGrath. It’s worked out for the moment and I’m happy with him, so I am. He’s a presence in around the square and that’s very important.

“I’m happy with the boys back there. We did give away too many scores but as I’ve said a lot of those (Offaly) scores were good scores.

“They were scoring some of those scores from out on the sideline as I’d told them, let’s try not to give away frees and pressure them into taking shots and they took the shots and they scored them.”

And what about the rest of the team?

“I was happy – Shane O’Sullivan, Tony Browne excellent, can’t complain about them; Jamie Nagle for long periods, Brick was okay. Half forward line? In periods could be a bit better, we’ll work on chopping things there, we’ll have to work on it, that’s being honest.”

Eoin Kelly’s astonishing 2-13 haul, one of the greatest individual scoring feats of this or any hurling era, prompted a pragmatic reaction from his manager.

“Ah sure, Eoin Kelly is there to score,” said Fitzgerald.

“Eoin Kelly played well today but Eoin Kelly wouldn’t be doing that only for the boys working hard outside the field.

“I think Eoin will tell you he was getting decent ball there himself, to tell you the truth. He was getting ball either side of him and he’s lethal like that – he’s a great player.

“The hardest thing I told Eoin Kelly is; Eoin Kelly, how do you lift yourself from that performance, it’s a hard thing to lift it from that performance again.

“If we get a point or two from him next week we’ll be delighted. Certainly he couldn’t carry us again, no way whatsoever. Other forwards are going to have to step up to the mark, that’s it.”

Though Kelly might have earned the individual garlands from Saturday’s game, Fitzgerald was happy with the team effort over the course of a fixture beset by referee Michael Haverty’s whistle.

“You can’t fault the lads’ work rate today. If they weren’t up for that game today, Waterford were out of the championship.

“You see by Offaly how up for it they were. You see the good scores they got; you can’t tell me Offaly didn’t score well out there today. They got some of the best points I’ve seen all year. We did well to come out of that, I can tell you that, but we will have to improve.

“Listen, Offaly were awesome today and do you think it’s going to be any different with Wexford the next day? It’s going to be the same ding dong again.”

He added, smiling: “I’ll tell you it’s a lot easier to be outside playing on the field than it is to be there on the sideline, that’s for sure. It’s a win, I enjoyed it, but I’m not fooled. I know we’re far from the finished article and we’d be well down the pecking order as regards the contenders for the All-Ireland.”

Throughout his pleasantly long reaction to Saturday’s game (no ducking onto buses with this fella), Fitzgerald remained pragmatic with a capital P – but a thoroughly compelling thought dispenser.

“Wexford, we know ourselves, we’ll have to improve to beat them, we know that,” he continued.

“We’re not stupid. They’re a decent team, but in saying that we won’t be throwing in the towel too easy ourselves, I can tell you that. You see that game today: there were things going against us at times, we looked under the cosh at times.

“We still held in there, we still fought. Even though we weren’t playing as well as we could have, we never gave in and we still tried to keep the right ball and do the right things.

“Now listen, we didn’t give all the right ball at all the right times but they were certainly trying to do the things that we’d worked on in training. It mightn’t happen overnight but we’ll be there or thereabouts next Sunday.”

The Waterford manager has demanded effort and complete commitment from every panellist and in his view; they’re delivering on that count.

“The one thing the lads promised me is they’d fight every game for 70 minutes and I expect that out of them,” he said, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead.

“I’m driving down from Clare and that’s the one thing I’ve asked them to do – I want 70 minutes of honesty. And if they’re honest for 70, then I believe we’ll be there or thereabouts with a chance and that’s the most important thing. This team, I expect will be honest.

“These boys are very anxious, so they are, very anxious to do well, maybe putting too much pressure on themselves.

“But we’ll see; we’ll see next Sunday what the story is. All I’m focused on is Wexford next Sunday. I know they probably won’t be too afraid of what they saw today but we’ll give it a go.”

One final question came Davy Fitz’s way: given the growing belief that Waterford might complete a remarkable championship turnaround, was he anxious to do well?

“No,” he began, eyes still glinting and grin widening. “I couldn’t give a shite,” sending himself and the hurling hacks around him into a fit of the giggles.

And with that, he returned to the Waterford dressing room, a second championship win from two starts under his belt.

And who knows – Davy Fitzgerald might yet have the last laugh of a hurling summer growing more compelling with every passing weekend.