Tipp Football still in early days of rebuild - Fitzgerald

By Shane Brophy

Paul Fitzgerald bleeds Tipperary football. The Fethard clubman manned the posts for Tipperary for eleven seasons between 2003 and 2014, enjoying some highs with the Tommy Murphy Cup success in 2005 and back-to-back league promotions from divisions 4 and 3 in 2008 and 2009.

Since stepping away at the end of the 2014 campaign, he hasn’t been away from the scene, becoming goalkeeping coach with Tipperary from 2016 to 2019 under the late Liam Kearns, and was also in the same role with Offaly last year with Kearns prior to his untimely passing.

While the process in finding a new Tipperary manager to succeed David Power was a lengthy one with a number of candidates linked, Fitzgerald’s name came up regularly as being involved with whoever got the job.

Paul Kelly’s late appointment meant a lot of the groundwork in terms of getting a panel together was put on Fitzgerald and Michael O’Donovan, the two Tipp-based selectors, to put the feelers out to players to come on board.

“We looked at a lot of new guys, we had over fifty players in at one stage,” Fitzgerald revealed.

“We have sixteen new guys on the panel, so you have to take that into consideration as well,” he said of Tipp’s struggles so far with a disappointing National League where they won just one of their seven games, finishing third from bottom with only London and Waterford below them in the division 4 table.

“It has been a hectic schedule in the National League, seven games in nine weeks, takes its toll on a panel.”

He added: “Then you have to add the on-field leadership and when you take Conor (Sweeney), Steven (O’Brien) and Mark Russell out of the equation, they are needed in every game but particularly a gruelling league where you are picking up knocks here and there.

“Sixteen new guys is a lot, obviously we have got Evan Comerford back, and Paddy Creedon and Peter McGarry have come from the hurlers so that has been a position.

“On top of that we have a lost a lot of experienced guys from last year’s panel too such as Colman Kennedy, Michael O’Reilly, Kevin Fahey, so it hasn’t been easy but given time these guys will show their wears because we can see it in training and in a lot of the games.

“But generally, it has been positive because we feel we have been competitive, apart from the Wexford game, there have been a few narrow defeats, two draws, and a narrow win.

“It is still very much early days as regards development, players gelling with management, and management getting to know the players. We have tried a lot of things, where in general it has been positive, except the Wexford game which was a disappointment.”

Fitzgerald wouldn’t have known much about his backroom colleagues beforehand, which also include coaches Hugh Kenny and Paddy O’Connor, but is encouraged by what they are looking to develop, even if the early months have been a struggle in terms of performances and results.

“His (Paul) ideas on how a team should play, and play a bit of attacking football, attack-minded stuff, without being silly either,” Fitzgerald said.

“Then bringing through guys from underage as well, he stayed true to that as we have a lot of new guys on the panel.

“He has been positive, his attention to detail is second to none, and the players are feeding off that. I know it has been a tough enough league but in general we just need more time with them.

“We are not that overly upset not getting promoted as you have to be ready for division 3 when you get up there. We have thrown a lot at them over the last few months, and it has been good, but we need more time with them to develop them as a team.”

Paul Fitzgerald enjoyed many good days in Tipp football but also saw the bad, so he is ideally placed to appreciate the glory days over the last fifteen years winning Munster minor, under 21 and senior titles, as well as reaching All-Ireland minor (2011 & 2015) and under 21 (2015) and senior semi-finals, and getting as high as division 2 in the league.

The question was could that success lead to a sustained period of Tipp being at the top-table, but it doesn’t appear to be the case at the moment.

“You just can’t take your eye off the ball, for any year,” Fitzgerald said.

“From the 2010 under 21 team to the 2011 minor team through to 2015 (minor and under 21 All-Ireland finalists) it was a golden generation of football in the county.

“The work has to continue and has to start again at the very bottom with development squads and underage and keep that ticking over.

“We were very lucky that we got a lot of good players out of that minor win, but you need more than one team, you need to keep developing every year and build from there.

“Hopefully it won’t take too long for another crop to come through, the under 20s are competitive this year, the minors look go so hopefully that bodes well for the future.”