Waterford’s Davy Fitzgerald aims for top start against Tipperary

First impressions matter, albeit this is second time around for Davy Fitzgerald in Waterford.

Fitzgerald rekindles his dalliance with the Déise on Tuesday, as his first competitive game since returning to the position he previously held between 2008-2011 takes place against Tipperary in Fraher Field at 7pm.

It is a Munster Hurling League fixture with plenty of cross-pollination going on. One of Fitzgerald’s selectors in Waterford is former Tipperary hurling captain Eoin Kelly. And one of the Tipperary selectors is former Waterford hurling captain Tony Browne. Both men are hurling icons in their respective homelands.

And, of course, Tipp are now managed by Liam Cahill, the former Waterford boss. Browne was also part of Cahill’s management team in Waterford last season. So, well, there’s plenty going on around the edges of this one.

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But Fitzgerald continues to take on the role of the central character. And while no silverware will be won or lost in this game, Fitzgerald has a habit of launching his stewardships with victories.

This is his fourth beginning as manager of a senior intercounty hurling team - following stints at Waterford, Clare and Wexford - and on all three previous occasions his tenure has got off to a winning start.

In July 2008 Waterford beat Antrim 6-18 to 0-15 in an All-Ireland senior hurling championship qualifier.

In January 2012 Clare were 3-25 to 0-5 winners over Waterford IT in the first round of the Munster Hurling League, then known as the Waterford Crystal Cup.

Then, in January 2017, Wexford thumped UCD 5-31 to 1-8 in the Walsh Cup. So Fitzgerald will be looking to continue that trend against Tipperary.

Eoin Kelly, the former Waterford forward, was the star of the show in Fitzgerald’s first game as Déise manager in 2008 – scoring 2-3 as they beat Antrim comfortably at Walsh Park. Fitzgerald had been brought in after a player heave removed Justin McCarthy following Waterford’s loss to Clare in the Munster SHC.

“We were after getting rid of Justin so the pressure was big-time on us,” Kelly told The Irish Times. “I had missed the Clare game with a broken hand but after all the hullabaloo there was huge pressure on us ahead of that Antrim match.

“But in some ways it wasn’t the worst game we could have got and it worked out well, thankfully. Davy put me in a new role at full forward, his thing was that I was at full with John Mullane and Eoin McGrath a bit further out, so I had a ball of room in there all year, apart from the All-Ireland final.”

Fitzgerald essentially built a gameplan around Kelly inside, alternating with Dan Shanahan, while using the class of Mullane to wreak havoc on opposition defences. Kelly finished the year as an All Star.

When Kelly last year heard Fitzgerald was returning for a second stint, his immediate reaction was overwhelmingly positive. It feels like the right fit.

“Davy is going to get a kick out of that team for a couple of years and they will probably be the prime years for most of the players,” continued Kelly. “I really think he is the right man for the job. Before the appointment, there were a few names getting thrown around as possible managers but I felt all along as soon as Davy was mentioned that he was the right man for it.”

Just a few days ago, Eoin went to pick up his son, Sean, from a Waterford minor hurling training session. The Waterford seniors were there as well and he stopped briefly for a chat with Davy, his namesake, Eoin Kelly, and Peter Queally.

“I just wished them the best of luck,” he said. “It’s a tough job but they will give it everything they can to try and get Waterford to win an All-Ireland, whether they can or not only time will tell.”

And the former Waterford player has no doubt what Fitzgerald’s ambition will be for the season opener against Tipperary.

“To win. He wants to win every game. Obviously you can’t win every game, but wanting to do so is the right mentality to have so I’d expect him to be keen to get off to a winning start.”

Cahill has named an experimental team for Tipperary’s opening game of the season – with the positioning of Michael Breen at fullback one of the more interesting calls. Breen has played most of his senior intercounty hurling with Tipp at midfield or half forward, though he did feature in defence at underage level and was fullback when the Premier County beat Dublin in the 2012 All-Ireland minor final.

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Dan McCormack, another player more recognised from operating around that midfield half-forward line area, has been named to start wing back while Jason Forde will knit the attack together from centre forward.

Goalkeeper Rhys Shelly will make his debut for the seniors against Waterford while Alan Tynan, who was on the books with Munster and played for Ireland in the 2017 World Rugby Under-20 Championships, has been named at wing forward for the trip to Fraher Field.

Tipperary (Munster SHL V Waterford): Rhys Shelly; Cathal Barrett, Michael Breen, Gavin Ryan; Dan McCormack, Pauric Campion, Shane Neville; Paddy Cadell, Ger Browne; Alan Tynan, Jason Forde, Joe Fogarty; Conor Bowe, Mark Keogh, Paddy Creedon.

Waterford: Billy Nolan; PJ Fanning, Mark Fitzgerald, Conor Ryan; Michael Harney, Calum Lyons, Shane McNulty; Paddy Leavey, Reuben Halloran; Neil Montgomery, Colin Dunford, Sean Walsh; James Power, DJ Foran, Billy Power.