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Davy Fitzgerald: 'It’s a nice victory, thoroughly deserved'

Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald

Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald

By John Harrington

Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald was hugely proud of his players after their impressive nine-point victory over Kilkenny in Sunday’s Allianz Hurling League semi-final.

He admitted a few breaking balls went their way, but felt they were full value for the victory overall.

“It’s a nice victory, thoroughly deserved,” said Fitzgerald. “Our workrate today was savage, our hooks, blocks and tackles were way up. The lads played with savage pride and heart, I couldn’t say enough about them. It will make things interesting for some of the lads that have to come back and try to get into that team. Very hard to leave off lads the way they played today.

“We were lucky – things broke for us unreal. I think we just got the break of a ball on a lot of occasions. We’ll just take the breaks. I don’t know how it looked out there. We played well. There was a fair bit of drive and enthusiasm. Let’s not get carried away – it’s April. If you’re still talking to me in August or September I’ll be delighted.”

Very few teams have dismantled Kilkenny in the manner Clare did on Sunday during Brian Cody’s time in charge of the Cats. The quality of their performance means that Clare have to now be regarded as one of the leading contenders for the Liam MacCarthy Cup this year, but Fitzgerald is determined to keep his feet on the ground.

“I’d love to have the opportunity later in the year to meet Kilkenny,” he said. “There was one or two quotes used during the week that we used, that we might as well not turn up today? I thought it was very disrespectful, I don’t think we’re a bad team.

“I think we’ve showed that over the last number of years. We’re not full of it but I think when we’re right, we’ll compete and that’s what we did today. We’re not going to be fooled by today, we know the quality that’s in Kilkenny, we know the quality that’s out there amongst a number of teams.

“You could probably pick out five or six teams that could win an All-Ireland. We’re not going to be fooled into thinking anything about that, we’re going to play the League final on its merits in two weeks time. We’ll just see what happens then.”

Brian Cody

Brian Cody

Clare will now play Waterford in the League Final on Sunday, May 1st. Five weeks after that the two teams will meet again in the Munster semi-final. But Fitzgerald suggested his team will go all out for win in the League Final rather than hold anything back for the Championship.

“It’s time now to start gearing up,” he said. “I just know from our point of view we haven’t been in too many League finals in the last ten or 15 years. It’s a national final, it’s fantastic to get there and I’m just proud we’re there. I played maybe two of them in 17 or 18 years?

“I think he’s (Derek McGrath) doing a fantastic job, they’re reigning League champions. That’s a fair feat to get to two of them in a row. Fair play to him. They strolled through Division 1 and to me, they’re the best team in the country, without a shadow of a doubt at the moment. We’ll have a battle on our hands to play them in two weeks time but we’ll give it a go and see what happens. A few weeks after that, we’ve got to go again. It’s going to be an interesting six weeks.

“They strolled through Division One. To me they are the best team in the country, without a shadow of a doubt, at the moment. We’ll have a battle on our hands to play them in two weeks’ time but we’ll give it a go and see what happens. A few weeks after that we got to go again. It’s going to be an interesting six weeks.”

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody was magnanimous in defeat after Sunday’s defeat to Clare, admitting that the better team had won.

"No excuses, no nothing else about it,” said Cody. “They got on top of the game early and they played very, very well. The scoreline is a fair reflection of the way the game went. They're very, very good; they've excellent hurlers. They really, really, really played very, very well and they out-hurled us all over the field.”

Kilkenny were weakened by injury to some key players, but Cody refused to use that as an excuse for his team’s defeat.

"Colin (Fennelly) was close to being able to play, but we wouldn't take a chance with him. Paul Murphy is not right, Michael (Fennelly) is not right, and Conor Fogarty is still not back either. But at the end of the day, it's not about who we were missing, it's about who we were playing, because we talk ourselves about our panel. We use our panel and that's it."

Cody also revealed that James Maher has been ruled out for the foreseeable future after fracturing his kneecap in an accident at home on the farm.