‘We will be back to fight another day’

CLARE manager Davy Fitzgerald was full of praise for his charges and Waterford after Sunday’s game.
“I am not going to give out to the lads. They gave everything they had. I was laughing today at certain stuff which made us favourites. So many of those guys have been in All-Ireland semi-finals and finals and they didn’t get the credit they deserved. They are great players. I wish them the best in the Munster final.”
Fitzgerald went on, “Trust me, our lads will be back again. There is a lot of fight in them. They didn’t give up. We had a chance or two at the end and we missed two or three easy frees and that’s tough. I don’t begrudge Waterford their win. We gave it everything we had and it was an exciting game out there.”
Asked about John Mullane’s celebrations in front of the Clare manager at the final whistle, the Sixmilebridge man declined to make anything out of it.
“John Mullane, there is so much left in him, it’s unreal. There is no fear of that man and I wish him and all the rest of the team the best. I think John Mullane was told something that was untrue. John Mullane is one of the best players I have seen and he has another two or three years in him big time, if he wants. I have no problem. Sometimes people tell players things to get them riled up so that they will perform in a game. I know in my own heart I have a lot of respect for those guys.”
According to Fitzgerald, “Waterford have been number three in the country for the last number of years and today they proved that to be the case. You don’t become bad players overnight. There is still a savage amount in that Waterford team and I have nothing but admiration and respect for them. They will have a say yet before the championship is over. Don’t write off Clare either,” he warned.
Asked if he was satisfied with the decision to award Waterford a penalty, which resulted in a goal, Fitzgerald replied, “I am not going to go into that, the analysts will see that. We lost the game. I have no cribs one way or another. Waterford won and that’s it, end of story. Some day you get breaks and other days you won’t.
“We conceded a sloppy goal or two. I don’t think you could say Waterford are better than Clare, it was 50-50 out there. We could have got over the line. We were a small bit nervous starting off. We gave up a very sloppy second goal and it was hard to come back after that. The lads fought to the very end. We got a few free chances probably we should have taken but Waterford stood tough and got the result at the end,” he said.
“There is no ill feeling here. We are not going to go looking at penalty claims and other things. We are not going to go down that road. We probably had enough chances to win the game and we didn’t. I am not going to comment this time, let the people who were there judge for themselves. If I make a comment, I know what’s going to happen and I am not going to do that this time. I think it’s fairly evident but we are not going to go down that road,” he went on.
Repeating his view that the game could have gone either way, Fitzgerald said, “We had a 65’ and a free inside 50 yards and we had another free at the end. We only needed two and we would have drawn the game and three and we would have won. Darach (Honan) was just on and let the ball fall out of his hands. He is only back a few weeks after a lot of time out. It’s very hard. That’s the way those things go.
“The two goals were a killer punch but we showed good character to come back. I would be very proud of the lads. Did we give ourselves a chance to win the game? We did. We could have won and no one would have argued if we had won. We are there or thereabouts. There is a lot of experience in Waterford and we stood up to it. Today mightn’t have been our day and the next day mightn’t be but we will keep trying and I know those lads won’t give up too easily.”
Asked if the fact that he was the manager in Waterford for the past three years was any advantage to the Déise outfit in this tie, he replied, “I don’t think it had any bearing on the game. We could have won the game and we didn’t. When you go out on the field it’s a 50-50 game. We lost and that’s it. We will be back to fight another day.”
He didn’t agree with the suggestion that the qualifier route might be a better one for Clare to go at this stage. “We would rather be in the Munster final. I don’t like going the qualifier route but we have no choice now.”
Asked about the last free, he said, “If it was to the centre we had a chance. It was very hard on him [Patrick Kelly]. It would be grand if we were only down a point and we could throw that over the bar. I have been there. I am not going to blame any of the guys. They gave 110%. We scored 1-18 today. We have a lot of work done and a lot to do. Anyone who knows my style knows that I won’t be throwing in the towel too easily,” Fitzgerald concluded.