Davy Fitzgerald has wept with joy at the sight of underdogs having their day in the sun.

And his final dream in hurling is to see the biggest underachievers in the sport grow into champions.

Fitzy was Clare’s goalie when they won their first All-Ireland in 81 years, their manager when they won the Liam MacCarthy for just the fourth time in their history; Waterford’s gaffer when they reached their first All-Ireland final in 45 years; Wexford’s boss when they won their first Leinster in 15 years.

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Now, with both history and geography against him, he is aiming to take Antrim to a historic Leinster title, or at the very least, on a charge to an All-Ireland quarter-final.

He knows it won’t be easy. Nothing in Antrim hurling ever is. But the biggest dreamer in the sport is on a mission to once again prove people wrong.

Fitzy said: “All my life I have been an underdog.

“I wasn’t meant to make it as a player because I was too small. Too small and too average. I had to work really hard.

“Most of the teams I’ve had in management have been teams who hadn’t won - at club, college and county level. And I kind of love that.”

You ask him why? He says: “Because why can’t these teams have their slice of luck or have their day out? Why not? And that's my thing. When I was growing up as a Clare fan, going to the games in the 70s, I saw Clare win Leagues but not championships.

“I can remember going with my dad and my uncle, watching them and thinking, we just weren't able to get there. I was in my head, ‘fucking why not? Why not?’ We were so close.

“I believe if you work hard and really apply yourself, and try different things, which I often get criticised for, then things can happen.

“If I was to try and play a Limerick at their game or Kilkenny or Tipp at their game, you're f***ed. You can't.

“One of the reasons we did okay in Wexford is we played a different style, which probably resulted in the likes of Kilkenny playing on our terms in a certain amount of time. That gives us an opportunity.

“You have to try and find little things that will help you to play on your terms. I just want to give teams a chance.

“The biggest thing I get out of the sport isn’t actually winning the cups; it’s seeing the reactions of people. If you can make a difference or you can bring a team like Clare in 2013 to an All Ireland – it is unbelievable.

“Wexford in 2019, when we went into Gorey and spent three hours there, those are memories I will never forget.

“It’s not lifting the cup. It’s seeing the people. It is incredible. LIT winning its first Fitzgibbon, that was amazing.”

Yet nothing in Irish sport will surpass the achievement of Antrim winning a major title.

For the record, they have made it to two All-Ireland finals - in 1943 and 1989 - but otherwise they have been the sport’s whipping boys.

And Fitzy wants to change it - but he knows he is handicapped by the twin handicaps of historic underachievement and geographic isolation.

He says: “Until I started working with Antrim, I had no idea how difficult the logistics were. Like, their away record is cat, terrible. I can’t pretend it isn’t.

“But part of that stems from being so isolated, from having to travel for three or four hours in cars and then play a match.

“Then there is the past. History does not lie. They were there in 1989, 1990 and 1991, but since then there has not been much success.

“Darren (Gleeson, his predecessor) did a great job. He is a great guy. So I have something to build from.

“What is Antrim’s ceiling? To answer that honestly, I'm not sure.

“If you go off the club results (there have been 10 appearances by an Antrim club team in an All-Ireland final), you'd think they're not 100 miles away.

“Make no mistake, they're able to hurl, they can compete with the best club hurlers that's out there. But county hurling is completely different.

“Right now I can't answer the question about how far Antrim can go. I won't try and bullshit. I like to think I have a good feeling that they might go (to) another level.

“We have identified the few areas that we're going to try and work on.

“Like, we had 50 clips that I showed them over the last few years and we identified...and when I showed it to them, they could get it. But it's to fix that, that's the thing. I would love if I had another five or six weeks now to work on those issues.

“I'm f***ing going into the lion's den now with the League starting. And it's very hard in that length of time because as I told you, fitness wasn't where it should be. So you're working hard on that and you're trying to get the other technical side of it at the same time, which is f***ing tough, because they're very tired when they're training hard, and they have trained really hard.

“Staying up in Division One and staying up in the Liam MacCarthy is the aim for this year.

“And I don't know if that can make a difference, but f***ing imagine if you could do something in two or three years' time, if you could get them to a place where we could get to a final or get to a quarter-final or semi-final. Imagine if you could.

“Like it would f***ing rock the whole thing up there. Them type of things appeal to me. But I definitely do know myself, I swear to you, I was very happy not to go (and manage again) after Waterford. But I am glad I am here with Antrim, I really am.”

• Davy Fitzgerald was speaking at the launch of Ireland’s Fittest Family which is sponsored by Londis.

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