All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2024 (Munster And Leinster Championships,Liam McCarthy Cup)

I just heard the podcast. It was a great episode.

Hilarious stuff, Skehill is certainly no fan of Davy and his antics. Even the mention of him irritates him.

He'd rather "eat cowsh!te" than work with Davy….. not ideal for a member of the U20 management team !

Listened to it this morning. Fair play to Skehill he didn't spare the rod and did a right hatchet job on Davy. I'd say Davy's giant ego will be bruised by that. No hurling pundit has had the stones to ever call Davy out like that before. I would expect a response from Davy, though. What a refreshing listen that was. But please Dublin do not fall for this mans 'charms'. We have Fossets circus up here. We don't need another.

Haven't listened to the podcast, but a bit like many Waterford fans slating Davy before this championship even began, I don't think Skehill is capable of any balance when it comes to Fitzgerald.

He might be a dislikable personality, but too many people use that as an excuse to discredit his record or the performances of his teams. Ultimately, he has never had the big jobs in hurling and never will so I would say he deserves some objective credit for his record along with the criticisms many would have of him.

It serves nobody to have fellas masquerading as analysts of the game where they cannot be objective in their assessment of somebodys qualities and weaknesses as either player or manager.

Think Skehill was quite objective, Fitz did win an All Ireland, how much that was due to Kinnerk/Players taking control rather than him is very debateable, but his last few jobs have been a circus and running his mouth off to his media mates,no proper county board would put up with that...Skehill brought up about 'tapping up' of existing backroom teams and canvassing of county boards for jobs too, who wouldn't believe that either given the way he operates…

Fitzgerald was the last manager to win Munster with Waterford, the last to win Leinster with Wexford, and the last to win an All Ireland with Clare. Waterford, this year, were probably the unlucky team of the championship as they beat Cork, only drew with Tipperary at the death, and lost by only a point against Clare in Ennis.

You might not like the guy personally but his managerial record is actually quite good if given fair scrutiny.

Very few people are questioning his record.

They are questioning his personality and his slimy antics like constantly blaming other people publicly including his own players or scheming for jobs. People don't want that associated with their county.

How many managers have tried ?

The vast majority just manage their own county and no one else no matter how good they are. Davy is one of the few in hurling that has made it his profession.

Well, the poster I replied to said his last two jobs were a "circus" and seemed to be trying ng to attribute the All Ireland win in 2013 to Paul Kinnerick (which in the interests of fairness must by extension raise questions about any influence John Kiely has had).

I don't know much about Fitzgerald's "scheming" looking for jobs so can't comment on that (obviously I realise he's a professional hurling manager but wouldn't know what goes on in the background) but I think there was a definite implication that he has achieved little in his managerial career. It seems to me that he has tended to bring improvement anywhere he has gone. Mightn't suit people to acknowledge that not but there's truth in it I believe.

Obviously there's free shot at slagging Fitzgerald off at this stage (while say Shefflin's pointless disastrous tenure seems to be to down to an "ageing team" etc. - nothing to do with Shefflin apparently) but it is only reasonable I think to point out that Fitzgerald actually has some achievements to point to.

On the basis of what we saw in Galway Shefflin will be waiting a very long time to bring provincial titles and an All Ireland title to counties of limited traditional success as Fitzgerald did.

I threw this question at someone older than myself and was nearly sorry I did such was the overwhelming nunbers involved.

They suggested off the top of their head Pat Joe Whelehan, Eamon Cregan, Michael Keating, Cyril Farrell, John Meyler, Mícheál Donoghue, Ger Loughnane, Justin McCarthy, Anthony Daly, Michael Bond, Colm Bonnar, Gerald McCarthy, and others such as Ger Cunningham, Derek McGrath and Eamon O'Shea who have had involvement with different counties as manager or part of management teams. It can be assumed Shefflin will end up somewhere else too. It seems to be fairly common actually but actual success is far less common. I think the more sober reflection of history will look back more kindly on Fitzgerald's record than the immediate rush to kick his reputation allows.

He did fail and I don't see him get a top job anytime soon. He will have to do very well at underage or a lower division for any big team to take a chance on him.

I definitely don't compare him to Fitzgerald. Don't see the situation as the same.

Whatever way you want to look at it to discredit Davy, he won Wexford their only Leinster title in 20 years. Should have beaten Tipperary of course but don’t let that take away from what they achieved that year. Also players naivety probably cost them that day as they were hugely inexperienced in them high pressure games in Croke park.

I always felt it was one those semi finals that players let themselves down rather than tactics from sideline. They messed up some very easy plays from what I remember. When you look at what Tipp did to kilkenny in final it was one that got away but in fairness he did well.

Obviously things worked out fine for Limerick but at the time it was awful disappointing to have 2 of the big 3 back in the final when it could have been Limerick and Wexford following up Limerick, Galway and Waterford the previous years. Would have been a nice run of smaller teams in finals.

Very true, it was not the greatest provincial campaign every waged. But it'll be interesting to see how long it takes a Wexford to go five games undefeated in Leinster in one seaaon again. And the performance of the county before and since 2019 does not suggest he underachieved.

I'm not a cheerleader for Fitzgerald but he deserves credit for bringing organisation and improvement anywhere he has gone. Whatever misgivings people have about his personality is one thing (I don't know the man or the details of various incidents so can't hold that against him) but there is something about him as a manager to be fair.