Clare may only have one victory in 2015 to their name, but Davy Fitzgerald is bullish about the immediate future of Clare hurling.
In an intimate interview with the Clare Champion, Davy Fitzgerald was unusually open. He says there is no need to panic despite their struggles so far this year.
I said that after 2013 that we were going to find it hard over the next year or two.
Fitzgerald points to improving turnover and tackle count stats that suggest that Clare's performances are improving. They'll need to, because if Clare lose their first round All-Ireland qualifier on July 4th, then they are out of the championship.
Should that happen, Fitzgerald doesn't believe his job is under threat:
I am fairly happy with what we've done. I believe it will come right. If I ever feel there comes a stage where I havev nothing to offer the team... I won't be in this for the next 10 years. I know that myself and I won't try to be but while I still have something to offer, I'll be there.
If it comes right for us on July 4, great. If it doesn't then you'll have to go back and look at different things and make tweaks where we lost games by a point.
If we were getting hammered in every single game, then I'd have to seriously have a look and ask had the lads stopped listening to me? There is no manager who can stay for years and years and I don't expect to. What will be will be but I know, at the moment, that we're pretty close. It is about success and I don't want to be there not winning stuff either.
Fitzgerald feels no pressure after Clare's recent success at U-21 level that has seen the county capture four All-Ireland titles since 2009 pointing to Limerick and Galway's success at that level that hasn't fully translated to senior hurling. He also says that a lot of that U-21 success was due to a core of players.
I'd be fairly certain that the nucleus of the teams were the same for the three-in-a-row. People think we have a conveyor belt of talent. Trust me, a lot of those players kept the three All-Irelands going. When I came in as manager in 2012, I decided I was going to bring in as many 21s as I could. I wanted to have them training at a higher level all the time. Fair play, ourselves and the U-21 management, to this day, we get on well and we still co-operate pretty well.
Whatever happens in the long-term, it's likely that we'll be seeing a lot more of Davy Fitzgerald in charge of Clare for the foreseeable future.
You can read the full and detailed interview with Davy Fitzgerald here
Picture credit: Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE
