‘I’ve had a look at a box in Croke Park’: Davy Fitzgerald may stay in the stands for Leinster final
Wexford manager Davy Fitzgerald is considering a return to the perch he adopted for the county’s win over Kilkenny when his side face Galway in the Leinster final, .
Suspended for encroaching the league semi-final defeat to Tipperary, Fitzgerald took his place high in the Wexford Park stands against Kilkenny, and won’t rule out a return for the Leinster final at Croke Park.
“I wouldn’t rule it out,” he said. “I’m seriously thinking of it and I’ll tell you why. I felt back that night I could see the game way better. There must be logic in why the rugby managers do why they do. Soccer, it’s a little different, it’s a lot slower.
“But from a managerial point of view, it makes more sense to be up there. So I am considering it, maybe half up, half down.
“In the next week I will decide, but it’s worth thinking about. I’ve had a look at a box in Croke Park, so it is there. And I’d say they’d be happy if I was in a box too.”
Fitzgerald said last night he “hated the fact” Tipperary’s Jason Forde got suspended after an entanglement with Fitzgerald in the NHL semi-finals earlier this year.
Fitzgerald offered to help Tipperary GAA officials if they were appealing Forde’s ban, adding that he “deserved” his own suspension - and may watch the Leinster final from the stands rather than returning to the sideline.
“I thought I might have been done for encroachment onto the pitch, but I didn’t go looking for a Tipperary player,” said Fitzgerald.
“Anyone plain as day could see that. And I actually hated the fact he (Jason Forde) got banned as well, I rang Tipp at the time, and said if there was anything I could do, I’d do it.
“But you know what, I deserved the ban, I was on the field, and if you’re on the field, that’s it, you accept it. So I can’t say I was hard done by, because I did deserve a ban.”
A wish to avoid lengthening the furore led to the decision not to appeal his suspension.
“Naturally, you look at every avenue, and you think about it (appealing). But one of the deciding factors was how much ye (the media) made of it. I just decided I wasn’t going to give ye another week of making another meal out of it.
“That would have been a factor, that there was already too much made of it. So I just decided to get it dead, take it, and get on with it.”
Wexford officials confirmed more than 14,000 tickets for the Leinster final have been bought in the county since they went on sale on Monday.
Meanwhile, Wexford's Conor Mc Donald is doubtful for the match against Galway.
The forward will have a scan on an ankle injury sustained in training last weekend and his chances of featuring in the final have been rated as '50-50'.
