Wednesday afternoon in Dublin and Davy Fitzgerald is chatty but guarded.
It is the launch of the latest series of Ireland’s Fittest Family and, speaking at the corresponding event last winter, he got himself into hot water.
A remark that working with his adopted Antrim players and attempting to develop a new playing style was “like teaching someone how to walk again” came back to bite him.
Former Antrim player and manager Terence McNaughton took umbrage and noted the remarks months later when criticising Fitzgerald generally as losses in the championship mounted.
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Antrim won just two games under Fitzgerald overall in 2025 and relinquished their Leinster SHC status. McNaughton’s criticism certainly didn’t help.
So while Fitzgerald answered questions for the guts of an hour, he was up front about being more guarded this time.
“My problem was I was probably too f**king honest and said it straight out and I got absolutely kicked for saying something that wasn’t what it was,” he said.
“You have to be careful now when you say something. ‘It’s f**k, how’s that going to end up? Did it really come across the way you meant it?’ That’s the truth. Sometimes you get a bit more guarded.”
There were certainly signs of that guardedness at a couple of different junctures throughout the chat.
Like what exactly he was considering in the period between the end of this year’s championship – Antrim lost to Offaly and were consigned to the Joe McDonagh Cup – and weeks later when he confirmed he would return for a second season with the Saffrons?
“I took a bit [of time], it was just tough for a number of reasons,” said the Sixmilebridge native. “I spent a bit of time, I’m not going to go into all those reasons. There were reasons and it took a bit of time.”
He was reticent again later on when suggesting that there are more important issues in the game than managers being paid. For context, Fitzgerald was asked for his opinion on the recent Gaelic Players Association survey of members which found that the majority would have no issue with paying managers.
“I actually think the whole thing needs to be looked at and have a good discussion on it,” he said. “Let’s see what can be done, what cannot be done. Do I know the answers to it? I don’t. But do I think it’s something that definitely deserves a look at? I think that is one of a number of issues. That is not the number one issue in my mind, and I’m not going to say what I think the number one is but there are other issues out there that need to be looked at as well.”
Asked what those more important issues are, Fitzgerald shook his head.
“I’m not going there because if I say one or two things that I feel, I’ll be in trouble again,” he said.
Thankfully, there were more than enough areas that Fitzgerald was content to explore and chat about to make it an interesting afternoon.
In terms of Antrim, his big target for 2026 is that the team is “a lot more competitive with the top teams that we come across” than in 2025. He confirmed that former forward Domhnall Nugent, who kept goals for surprise Antrim SHC winners St John’s, has been recalled to the county squad as a goalie, having last played in 2023.
On broader issues, he suggested two changes which he feels could improve the game. Firstly, that managers and coaches take up a position in a specially designated box, or area, away from the sideline, probably high up in the stand. He feels this would cut down on disciplinary flashpoints and help with analysing games too. Secondly, he would like some sort of access to referees after games to discuss various decisions and incidents.
“If we get them few things right, can our game be a bit better? It can,” he suggested.
On the GPA’s drive for a seven-month intercounty season, from the start of pre-season training to the All-Ireland final, Fitzgerald shrugged.
“I get exactly what the players are saying,” said the former goalkeeper. “But, again, we’ve got to be clear that when we say something, we’ve got to do something. That can’t be half of us doing something and half of us not doing.”
