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Hurling

Davy Fitzgerald: 'Naysayers need to get off their high horses'

Wexford boss Davy Fitzgerald has hit back at critics who have called his team's style of play neg...



Davy Fitzgerald: 'Naysayers ne...
Hurling

Davy Fitzgerald: 'Naysayers need to get off their high horses'

Wexford boss Davy Fitzgerald has hit back at critics who have called his team's style of play negative saying they need "to get down off their high horses".

The Model County lost out in the All-Ireland semi-final to Tipperary at Croke Park yesterday on a scoreline of 1-28 to 3-20. Their goals came from Lee Chin with 20 minutes to go and Conor McDonald who got two.

Speaking after the game, Fitzgerald said he was considering his future, "whether I can do it again, I don't know. I don't want to think about it for a while. I think I just need to stop. It's been 18 years playing and 12 or 13 with no breather."

 

However, the 47-year-old - who led his native Clare to an All-Ireland in 2013 as manager - said he is sick of critics saying they play defensive hurling. "It drives me nuts," Fitzgerald said.

"People talking about stuff they haven't a clue about. If you call Wexford negative then I don't know because we were getting attackers, we were getting players all over the place. We scored three, we could have scored six, we were there. We were right there.

"And to me, talk about hurling? That's the right way to play hurling, not get it between two people and beat the lard out of each other. Play the game short and long, people need to stop and have a look and let teams do their thing and stop being on their back.

"I'm so proud of our crowd and I'm so proud of our supporters as well. They never got on our back, they never got on our back, they stayed with us and I'm wicked proud of them and the way they conducted themselves."

Tipperary will meet Kilkenny in the All-Ireland hurling final on August 18th at Croke Park after the Cats beat reigning All-Ireland champions Limerick by a point on Saturday. Nine-time All-Ireland winner with Kilkenny Tommy Walsh said they were impressive in getting to their first decider since 2016:

"I've never seen them as hunger or as ravenous. It was like going back to the 2006 All-Ireland, there were three-men around every Limerick guy. I think they went into a 1-08 to three-point lead and that was probably the winning of the game.

"When Limerick came back at them then they were just able to keep the hunger and work rate going. Sometimes then you get a bit of luck, and I put that down to the first couple of minutes."

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Davy Fitzgerald Hurling Sweeper Tipperary Wexford