Don’t get carried away, warns Fitzgerald

IF Clare start thinking they are brilliant after their victory over Limerick, they will be in trouble, warned Clare hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald after his side’s 14-point win.
“We can’t afford to be lackadaisical or lie down. We have to work very hard. It’s important the public don’t get carried away with that result. There will be one or two days down the line and people will be disappointed. It’s important to keep the focus. I do believe in these guys and I do believe there could be something in them,” the Sixmilebridge man said.
Fitzgerald didn’t hide his delight at the victory but stressed, “It’s only the first round of the league. There is no point in Clare people getting carried away. I said from day one this will be a hard-working team and that’s all the public can expect. We will have dips but they won’t be too far away and it will take time. We are on the right track.”
He said he was concerned when they were five points behind in the first quarter but said he still had the belief they would work hard. He was disappointed that Clare conceded a goal early in the game.
“We gave away a soft goal at the start and we knew why that happened. We talked about that happening in the three or four weeks coming into this game but that mistake will stand us in good stead going forward. We recovered very well afterwards,” he said.
How good were Limerick? “They just didn’t seem interested after the first half. I can only think about our lads and they played really well but if we meet Limerick again, it will be a different kettle of fish,” he warned.
Turning to the next round of the league, he said, “Antrim are next. We only beat them by a point in the last two games and we were very lucky.”
Before that, Clare will face Tipperary in the Waterford Crystal final on Sunday in Sixmilebridge.
“I am really looking forward to that but there are up to eight of these lads who can’t play in that game and Tipperary will have a really strong side. They played most of their guys in the competition to date, so we will be playing a near-full strength Tipperary side. We have guys who will be fighting for their places and we will see what happens,” he concluded.