Managers and madness are cosy bedfellows, and the GAA does that particular combination as well as any sport the world over. This week’s Exhibits A and B: Davy Fitzgerald and Kieran McGeeney.
Davy Fitz, eh? You have to hand it to him. After Sunday’s demolition at the hands of the All-Ireland champions at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, there are managers who might have said to themselves, ‘Y’know, the last thing these lads need is training on Tuesday night. Let’s give them a few days off.’
This is Davy Fitz, though, and Davy Fitz does things differently. Generously, he decided that he wouldn’t leave his players licking their wounds for 48 hours or more after their Tipp clipping. No, the Deise were back together this morning.
A few folk on Twitter reckoned it was a 6am training sesson, but Waterford officials insist it was a bit later than that, and it was just a meeting. To figure out where things went wrong yesterday, like.
Which is all a bit of a pity. We usually hate the thought of morning sessions, unless they’re the type involving fiddles and bodhráns and wee drams of whiskey, but we’d love it if Davy decided to take things back on the field 12 hours after the end of the most humiliating defeat you’ve ever had.
From one hard-to-please gaffer to another.
Kildare boss Kieran McGeeney, it seems, has booked his players in for some target practice after their flaky display at the weekend, when they managed just 3-16 in a 15-point win at the home of their near neighbours Laois.
And Geezer reckons Kildare’s problem, such as it is, extends to their performances in the first 35 minutes of every game.
“I still think we play well in the first-half but we don’t shoot well in the first-half. We get a lot of possession. We did some great movement in the first-half [against Laois] and we didn’t take our shots for points. Our goals were great and you always want that. Tom [O’Connor] was very good inside but we could have had another six or seven points on the board.”
Meath are next up for the Lilywhites. Kildare have eased to victory over the Royals twice in the Championship in the past 12 months, and McGeeney is still not happy.
But fear, it seems, is one thing Meath manager Seamus McEnaney does not feel whenever he meets McGeeney.
