{"id":414212,"date":"2026-04-23T22:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/414212\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T22:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:51:07","slug":"antrim-legend-growing-tired-of-shocking-davy-fitzgerald-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/414212\/","title":{"rendered":"Antrim Legend Growing Tired Of ‘Shocking’ Davy Fitzgerald Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026 has proven to be a difficult year for Antrim up to this point, with the county struggling in both league and championship in recent months.<\/p>\n

Davy Fitzgerald’s side would lose five of their six games in Division 1B on the National Hurling League, although they just about managed to avoid relegation thanks to a superior scoring difference over both Carlow and Down.<\/p>\n

While it would have been hoped that the Ulster county would improve once the Joe McDonagh Cup got underway, they are already under pressure in that competition.<\/p>\n

Antrim would lose their opening game against Down, having also been beaten by the same opposition in the league. There are now serious doubts around their chances of securing a top two finish in the group, something that would condemn them to the second tier for another season.<\/p>\n

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Antrim Legend Growing Tired Of Davy Fitzgerald Approach<\/p>\n

Antrim would suffer relegation from the Liam MacCarthy in 2025, losing all five of their games in the Leinster Championship. It was somewhat of a surprise to see Davy Fitzgerald continue as manager this season despite this, although some are growing tired of his tenure with the team.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Michael Verney of the Irish Independent<\/a>, Antrim legend Gary O’Keane admitted that he is not impressed with the defensive tactics that have been employed by Fitzgerald throughout the 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n

The way Davy sets up, I don’t like slating anyone that’s in charge of a team because I’ve been in charge of them myself and I know the craic but when it’s not working for two seasons in a row and you’re getting bad results, something has to change…<\/p>\n

It’s a shocking state of affairs, to be honest…<\/p>\n

The players are there but unless we change our set-up and our style of play, I don’t think we’ll come out in the top two but the players are there to do it.<\/p>\n

They’re more than capable of hurling anybody when they’re allowed to.<\/p>\n

This tactical approach would be one thing if Antrim were winning games, but it seems clear that it has not worked this season.<\/p>\n

The Saffron County still have an opportunity to turn their season around over the coming weeks, although Saturday’s trip to Laois already looks like a must win for Davy Fitzgerald’s side if they are to harbour realistic ambitions of reaching a Joe McDonagh Cup final.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO:\u00a0Spillane Feels ‘Worst Ever’ Kerry Underage Display Could Be Big Blow For Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 S\u00e9<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026 has proven to be a difficult year for Antrim up to this point, with the county struggling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[80306,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-414212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-antrim","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}