*David Fitzgerald gets away from Cathal O’Neill. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
FROM THE OFF, David Fitzgerald’s return lifted Clare as they defeated Limerick on Saturday but he’s adamant they must make the scalp count by progressing in this season’s championship.
Suspension ruled the All Star out of Clare’s five point opening round loss to Tipperary but he returned to the middle of the field, bringing a physical presence and a valuable outlet for possession.
Speaking to The Clare Echo following Saturday’s one point win over Limerick, Fitzgerald was managing to stay grounded. “We won’t be getting carried away. It’s just two points. We needed to get back on the horse after the defeat last week. I wasn’t available last week but I felt the hurt too. Today was about getting rid of that hurt and we have to regroup now, refocus for Waterford and go again”.
A two week is badly needed for the Banner following the physical encounter over the weekend. “The lads will be sore. Two massive games in six days is a tough ask. The hits out there tonight were tough. But we as a unit stood up to it. We were relentless in our approach. It’s a squad that wins though and everyone contributed. Look at the impact that Shan (Aron Shanagher) had when he came on. He caught some huge balls and fired over crucial scores. It was exactly what we needed”.
Fitzgerald said the turnaround in six days came on the back of the competition and ambition within the squad. “It’s a highly competitive squad. It’s hard to get into the match day twenty six never mind the starting fifteen. You need that competition for places. It drives everyone on and to a man you know we will fight for each other”.
Reflecting on the loss to Tipperary, David said, “We didn’t play bad against Tipperary. We just made silly mistakes and at this level mistakes are punished all the time. We knew as a collective it wasn’t a poor performance. We just decided to take the positives out of it and build on that coming here today”.
Astutely aware of the lift supporters among the crowd of 30,000 in the Gaelic Grounds would get from defeating the All-Ireland champions, the Inagh/Kilnamona clubman was quick to point out that they need to follow it up in their upcoming games against Waterford and Cork.
“We as a group have to park it and get ready for two weeks time. Nobody will remember tonight if we don’t follow it up. Yes I can imagine Ennis will be wild tonight and our supporters are magnificent. They deserve to celebrate and I hope we can give them a lot more to celebrate as the year unfolds”.
