Just another manic Sunday.
On Saturday night, Tipperary welcome Wexford to Semple Stadium for their round three clash in the National Hurling League Division 1A. Following what happened last year, expect the tension to be palpable.
When the sides last met – Tipperary’s 11-point league semi-final win in April 2017 – Davy Fitzgerald, incensed at his Wexford side not being awarded a free in the build-up to Tipp’s second goal, stormed the pitch and took matters into his own hands.
The Clare native introduced his own brand of touchline theatrics that day and, as the two sides prepare to lock horns once again, it’s an incident certainly worth revisiting.
Fitzgerald struggles to stand back when it all kicks off.
Blood and thunder.
And he’s not afraid to dish out a shoulder or two.
Or do something that would see a player sent off.
What the hell is going on here?
He couldn’t sit still.
Because he feels every puck.
But at the end of it all, he shakes hands.
It was a moment that had the nation gripped as it watched the movements of the Banner man during the unsavoury incident.
Of course, he gave a very Davy Fitzgerald response when asked the following question post-match by TG4: Would he do anything differently if he had a second chance?
“No…”
Simple as that.
Elaborating, he simply pointed out what he saw as an injustice.
“I wouldn’t [do anything differently] because it’s important to make the point it changed the game,” he said.
“Maybe plus the fact I was trying to get my own team going, they were after getting a blow, you’re trying to rise them and get them going a small bit so there might have been two or three different things I was trying to do in that one.
“Do I know it’s probably not the right thing? 100 per cent but whatever will be out of it will be out of it, you accept that.
“You have to do what you think is the right thing to do for your team. I’d like to think I’ll always fight for the team no matter what the story is, even whether I’m right or wrong. It’s probably something I won’t try again, I’d say.”
