Davy FitzGerald

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Davy FitzGerald

Personal information
Sport	Hurling
Irish Name	Daithí Mac Gearailt
Full name	David FitzGerald
Date of Birth	2 August 1971
Place of birth	Sixmilebridge, County Clare
Nickname(s)	Davy
Club information
Club	Sixmilebridge
Position	Goalkeeper
Club(s)*
Club	Years	Apps (scores)
Inter County
County	Clare
Position	Goalkeeper
Inter County(ies)**
County	Years	Apps (scores)
Clare	1990-	60 (2-0)
Inter County Titles
Munster Titles	3
All-Ireland	2
All-Stars	3
* club appearances and scores correct as of . **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of .

(David) Davy FitzGerald (born 2 August 1971) is an Irish sportsman. He plays hurling with his local club Sixmilebridge and with the Clare senior inter-county team. He is the current goalkeeper on both teams and is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all-time.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Playing career 2.1 Club 2.2 Inter-county

[edit] Early life

Davy FitzGerald was born in Sixmilebridge, County Clare in 1971. He showed great skill at the game of hurling in his youth and, in time, he would go on to be regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all-time.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Club

FitzGerald plays his club hurling with his local Sixmilebridge club in Clare. He has much success with the side, winning virtually every honour available at club level. In 1989 FitzGerald was just breaking onto the senior team when 'the Bridge' won the Clare SHC. Three years later in 1992 and 1993 he was a full member of the team when Sixmilebridge captured back-to-back county titles. Two years later in 1995 FitzGerald claimed another county title, before winning his first Munster club championship. On St. Patrick's Day, 1996 he captured his first, and to date his only, All-Ireland club medal. Another county title followed in 2000, which itself was converted into another Munster title. FitzGerald captured his last county medal in 2002.

[edit] Inter-county

FitzGerald made his senior debut for Clare in a National Hurling League game against Down in February 1989. He was 18 years-old at the time. The following year he became the number one choice for goalkeeper on the senior team, making his Munster Championship debut against Limerick in 1990. At the time Clare hurling was in the doldrums, however, within a few years FitzGerald's side would become one of the most feared teams in the championship. In 1995 Clare came from nowhere to win their first Munster title since 1932. In the game against Limerick FitzGerald ran the length of the pitch to take a penalty. Following his convertion of the penalty FitzGerald ran the length of the pitch again to defend his goal-line. This goal was included in RTÉ's Top 20 GAA Moments television programme in 2005. FitzGerald later went on to win his first All-Ireland medal, following an emotional victory over Offaly.

In 1996 Clare dramatically lost their Munster and All-Ireland titles in a first-round meeting with Limerick. Clare were back in 1997 with FitzGerald winning a second Munster title. He later captured his second All-Ireland medal following a one-point win over Tipperary. In winning the 1997 All-Ireland final Clare beat Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperray - the big three of hurling. In doing so they became only the second team ever, along with Waterford, to achieve this. In 1998 FitzGerald claimed his third Munster medal, however, follwoing a bizarre three-game battle with Offaly, Clare, the red-hot favourites, were knocked out of the championship.

The following few seasons proved difficult for FitzGerald and Clare. In spite of reaching the All-Ireland final in 2002, Clare were beaten by Kilkenny. A swell as his Munster and All-Ireland medals FitzGerald has also won two Railway Cup medals with Munster and three All-Star awards from 1995, 2002 and 2005. He claimed the top prize in the Poc Fada competition on two occasions.

Now in his eigteenth season with Clare, FitzGerald is often seen as one of the more controversial hurlers currently playing. He is renowned for his fiery and animated performances during games and has a lot to say in the course of a match. He does not discriminate between own defenders, opposing forwards and match umpires when savaging them with his comments. However, he is considered one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and in the Clare folk memory now rivals Tommy Daly of Tulla for the accolade of Clare's best ever custodian. In 2005 he published his autobiograpy, "Passion and Pride".

	Clare - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1995 (2nd title)
1 D. FitzGerald | 2 M. O'Halloran | 3 B. Lohan | 4 F. Lohan | 5 L. Doyle | 6 S. McMahon | 7 A. Daly (Capt.) | 8 J. O'Connor | 9 O. Baker | 10 F. Tuohy | 11 P.J. O'Connell | 12 F. Hegarty | 13 S. McNamara | 14 C. Clancy | 15 G. O'Loughlin | Subs: E. Taafe | C. Lyons | A. Neville | Manager: G. Loughnane

	Clare - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1997 (3rd title)
1 D. FitzGerald | 2 M. O'Halloran | 3 B. Lohan | 4 F. Lohan | 5 L. Doyle | 6 S. McMahon | 7 A. Daly (Capt.) | 8 O. Baker | 9 C. Lynch | 10 J. O'Connor | 11 C. Clancy | 12 P.J. O'Connell | 13 N. Gilligan | 14 G. O'Loughlin | 15 F. Tuohy | Subs: F. Hegarty | D. Forde | B. Murphy | Manager: G. Loughnane

	Clare Senior Hurling Team - 2006
1 D. FitzGerald | 2 G. O'Grady | 3 B. Lohan | 4 F. Lohan | 5 D. Hoey | 6 S. McMahon | 7 C. Forde | 8 J. Clancy | 9 C. Lynch | 10 D. McMahon | 11 T. Carmody | 12 N. Gilligan | 13 D. O'Rourke | 14 A. Markham | 15 T. Griffin | Manager: A. Daly