Davy Fitzgerald opens door to club star returning to county stage after remarkable 3-9 haul
Fitzgerald was on punditry duty for RTE and witnessed one of the finest individual displays of the season
Davy Fitzgerald has said that he will talk to Neil McManus about possibly returning to play with Antrim.
McManus, 36, put in a sensational display for Cushendall in their Ulster club semi-final defeat to Slaughtneil on Saturday night, virtually single-handedly sending the game to extra time after his side had been overrun for much of the game In the end, he couldn’t prevent a 1-36 to 3-25 defeat in a pulsating encounter in which he scored a remarkable 3-9, all but 0-3 from play.
McManus last played for Antrim in the 2023 Championship, following which he announced his retirement from inter-county hurling, but he was added to Fitzgerald’s management team in August as performance coach after the Clare man was appointed Saffrons boss. Fitzgerald was part of RTE’s punditry team for Saturday night’s game and when asked as to whether McManus may yet have a playing role after that tour de force, he smiled: “He'd certainly make you think, he might be going back playing now.”
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He elaborated on that when quizzed by the BBC subsequently.
Fitzgerald said: “We’ll talk over the next few days. I don’t know if Neil will agree with that and (if) he wants the slog but Neil McManus is some player. What he has done for Antrim and, trust me, the conversations that I’ve had with him over the last number of weeks and his role as head of team performance, like he’s a serious guy.
“Does he care about hurling? He loves his hurling. He’s a passionate Antrim man and Ulster man. He is passionate beyond belief. I’m just glad to have him involved and we might stick a pair of togs and socks on him at some stage and spring him out!”
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