Back in his second stint as Waterford boss, Davy Fitzgerald's passion and enthusiasm for the games remains as strong as ever as he aims to give it everything with the Déise squad over the next while.
Waterford bowed out of the Munster hurling league last weekend as Fitzgerald lost out to his native Clare in Cusack Park (1-24 to 2-19) in what was a useful workout for both sides ahead of the start of the Allianz NHL early next month.
Following on from the news last week that Walsh Park won't be available to the Déise hurlers for the home games in the Munster Championship and the National league due to the re-development works, Fitzgerald gave his reaction to WLR Sport after Sunday's action in Ennis; "Listen, you'd love to have your home games at home like, we all know that, that's what we would love but in saying that and having talked to the County Board and they've been very good to us, we know that they've a job to do. There has to be work done on Walsh Park end of story, we've got to do it so let's do it, let's not moan about it, stop making excuses for ourselves. If we got to go to Thurles, wherever we're going we're going and we're going to give it 110% we know that, we'll have our home back then done up next year and that'll be it".
Waterford were due to host to Limerick and Clare in the Munster round-robin Championship and Fitzgerald was asked if there's a preference where they'd like to play those games; "Big fields aren't bad for Waterford so they're not like, really big open spaces so we'll see what comes down the line what the story is. As I said, there's enough negativity outside there, can we just stop and maybe turn a corner and support Co. Boards, support the team even if we win or lose, just stick with it and in the two or three years as I've often said if I can't do it in the three years then we'll let someone else have a go at it but if we're all together on the one page we've a good chance of winning that's all I'll say".
Waterford will start the defence of their Allianz league title on Sunday February 5th with Dublin coming to town (Venue: TBC), the Déise will also face Laois, Antrim, Tipperary and Kilkenny.
The Déise's first game in the minefield that is the Munster SHC will be against All-Ireland champions Limerick on April 23rd followed by a trip to Cork a week later. The Clare game is pencilled in for May 13th while the campaign will conclude with a trip to face former manager Liam Cahill and Tipperary on May 28th, some intriguing battles in store!
