Fitzgerald taking captaincy in his stride with promotion the ultimate aim

Martin Fitzgerald has been a shining light with the Kildare hurlers for a number of years now and he has been rewarded with the team captaincy for 2019. The Ardclough man takes over from Brian Byrne who stays on board as vice captain and Fitzgerald will hope to be as successful as the Naas star was last year. Kildare may have captured the Christy Ring Cup but relegation in the League is still a sticking point as they look to get this years campaign off to a good start. “It’s important to get off to a good start and going away to Donegal is not going to be easy and a lot of people will expect us to be favourites after coming down from Division 2A but we are in a tough group with Donegal and Wicklow away and two more northern sides at home so they are all tough teams but its important we hit the ground running and get our win on the board at the weekend”. After Joe Quaid’s departure to Westmeath, Kilkenny’s David Herity has come on board and while his management is still in its infancy the team captain is enjoying it at the moment and along with new selector Declan O’Toole their winning mentality is certainly getting through to the squad. “I think every management team is different as they all bring a different style to the game and how they want to play”. “Each bring their own level of professionalism as well so it’s very different but you’d expect that”. “David Herity’s record speaks for itself, he has five All Ireland Titles and he brings that level of experience into the dressing room and lads are constantly learning off him and with Declan O’Toole part of the management team as well you have another winner him being successful with the Kildare Under 20’s and Raheens so he has a lot of experience in victorious dressing rooms so its important to learn from both of them”, Fitzgerald said. The overall results in the pre-season Kehoe Cup competition may not have been that important in the bigger context but one trend did come true and that was the team coming out of the blocks at a pedestrian pace with the Antrim game in particular being especially noticeable and this is something that needs to be sorted in the coming weeks. “We need to start games better”. “I don’t think you can afford at this level or any level of County Hurling to be giving a team a ten or fifteen minute start so it’s important we get that right” “We need to settle into games quicker and it’s something we are working on in training so hopefully we can rectify that in the League”. It’s not only the new management that make this a new era for Kildare Hurling as after both Mark Moloney and Paul Dermody recently retired there is a real gap of experience in the squad. When you add in the unavailability of Eanna O’Neill who was on the Christy Ring team of the year last term and the influx of a number of younger players then you realise the value of a player like Fitzgerald. “The most important thing we can do is set the standard and show the players what we expect from them when they make the step up into the Kildare jersey”. “Obviously we will guide them and give them a bit of knowledge from what we have gained over the last few years and just be a helping hand to these players in showing them the way”, he admitted.