The interview with Davy Fitz that sums up the magic in the Clare man’s madness

There’s something magical about being in Davy Fitzgerald’s presence.

When the Clare man is good, he’s the best in the world. When he’s bad, he’s cross, he’s cranky and he’ll barely look you in the eye.

Losing is the great fear. It’s what upsets him more than anything else, the fear of it drives him bananas. Davy doesn’t take it well.

Sideline rants, snarly interviews, it’s what many remember him for.

The Wexford players see a different side though. A man from Sixmilebridge with an unfailing self belief and an incredible ability to inspire and to preach.

Davy Fitz' story after the game 👏

"Our psyche is there are people who are ill and can't do stuff. Take Michael from Kerry. If you'd seen his speech before Tipp game.

"The boys thought I put him up to it, I didn't. He told them to live their dream.

"That's the way we are" pic.twitter.com/PwcqWgkcE9

— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) July 1, 2019

As reporters, we witnessed it after one of Davy’s most impressive ever triumphs on Sunday. Fitzgerald was in top form, nothing could faze him and everything seemed possible. Hearing him talk with such genuine passion and looking on through the infectious glint in his eye, you almost felt like a Wexford player.

You felt ready to run through walls.

Experience it for yourself here.

“I remember when I went to Wexford first,” he begins.

“A lot of people told me ‘don’t bother, they haven’t a chance of doing nothing’. I fucking loved when that final whistle went. There is nothing that can’t be achieved in life, or nothing that can’t be done. I’m one of them people. I can hear them (in the dressing-room) from here. If you come down to our training you would know what it is like.

“They come in an hour beforehand. They belt out the tunes, we’ll all sit down and chat for a while. I want it to be an environment where they come to. I want them to enjoy what they do. They have worked tirelessly to get here. People might say it is a Leinster Championship. A Leinster Championship means so much to this bunch it is incredible and so much to the Wexford people. The emotion feels the exact same for me, whether it is winning with Clare as a player or as a manager, winning with Waterford. Just happy to see those boys so happy. If I told you half the stuff them boys said to me when the final whistle went … it makes it so worthwhile.”

Davy Fitz congratulating, and passing on a few words of wisdom after the final whistle today 👏

A real red letter day for the county @sportsfile 📸 pic.twitter.com/UDXcBcrDnQ

— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) June 30, 2019

“Young people are different,” he says.

You have to handle them a different way in trying to get the best out of them. You have to make them feel… our psyche today was that there are a lot of people who are ill and who can’t do stuff. My belief in life is when you get an opportunity to go out in Croke Park to play you go out and you play…”

“You take young Michael from Kerry that came into us this year – if you’d seen the speech he gave before the Tipp game. All the boys thought I put him up to it, I didn’t say a word to him. He actually told them it’s about time they start living their dream. This is a young guy that was blind and it registered big time with the lads. That’s the way we are. We don’t do team talks before we go out on the field. There was nothing before we went out on the field today. I won’t tell you what we did but it is different. I want them to be able to just go out and hurl and express themselves.”

“I’ve seen what they’ve gone through. If I told you the training we did, you would not believe the stuff we did back in November, December … you would not believe it…”

“There was a doubt when I came in there, in their own personal minds, I know they doubted. I know they doubted were they good enough to do stuff. But that (belief) kept growing, and it’s great to see…”

“We were kind of a good fit. They’re half-mad; I’m half-mad. But, do you know what I found – even when we were doing poorly in games, they didn’t knock the sweeper system.  

“The sweeper system, I’m telling you 100pc, I am certain is not a negative system. It just needs to be shown the way it operates, which is very important. It is good for hurling…”

I knew he was going to score it. And that’s not rubbish; I didn’t. Because I was turning to Seoirse about something, he said ‘Are you going watching?’, I said ‘I don’t need to … he’ll score.’