Defeat dispels ‘rubbish’ about All-Ireland

Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald readily acknowledged after the game that the better team won.

 

“Every chance they got, they punished us. We gave them two goals and you can’t afford to be making mistakes like that. We made them and they punished us big time but even without the mistakes, they were way better than us, way hungrier and fighting harder than our boys. They deserved their win,” the Sixmilebridge man said.

Asked why he thought Tipperary had dominated this game, he replied, “Maybe it was the beating they got last week, maybe they were sore. I don’t know but Tipperary are a strong team and they will take beating this year and it will have to be a good team to beat them,” he replied.

“I have listened to so much rubbish all week about Clare winning All-Irelands. I keep saying we are building. I have been saying this from day one. Some of our own people get so carried away. It’s a young team and we are building and we will stay building. We will take this on the chin. That’s our first big defeat since I took charge. We will come back fighting,” he promised.

Continuing, he said, “It’s not a blessing in disguise but it puts a bit of realism into it. There is no doubt about it, we should have more than four points on the board after four games but today there was no doubt about the result. You could hear Eamonn O’Shea on the sideline telling his players to keep driving scores on and that’s a great mentality to have when you are up 11 or 12 points.”

Asked if the previous week’s results, when both sides were beaten by a point, had any effect on Sunday’s outcome, Fitzgerald said, “Tipp have been a bit patchy – poor first game and last week not as good. For us, we have been trying to get up for every game and play at an unbelievable height. Can you do four weeks in-a-row? It’s tough. We have no excuses today but it’s hard to keep going week after week,” he replied.

“We are in a relegation play-off now. I still have faith in them. There is no fear of these lads. We will stay doing what we have to do. That Clare team will continue. There is no fear of them,” he stressed.

Fitzgerald also took the opportunity to stress that the Clare dressing room was not closed to the media after the game with Kilkenny a week earlier.

“The Clare dressing room was never shut at any stage last week. There have been reports that I had a meeting in the dressing room. There was not one word said to anyone. It’s the same as always. The lads take 10 or 15 minutes after a game, the same as today.

“It was reported that we had a meeting. It never happened, it’s not true, There will always be one of the management, whether it be myself or any of the lads, more than prepared to talk to any of ye,” he stressed.