'Davy put his heart and soul into it' - McNaughton

Davy Fitzgerald's appointment as Antrim manager in August 2024 was viewed as something of a coup.

A two-time All-Ireland winner with Clare in the 1990s, Fitzgerald guided his native county to the 2013 title as manager, in between leading Waterford to the 2008 All-Ireland final and delivering a Leinster title to Wexford in 2019.

Following a second stint with Waterford, the Sixmilebridge native was brought north following the departure of Darren Gleeson from the Antrim hot seat and while hopes were high he would build upon the significant strides made by the Tipperary man, it just didn't come together on the pitch.

Prior to the start of the 2025 campaign, Fitzgerald said "it's nearly like teaching someone how to walk again" when outlining his plan for the Saffrons and while that raised eyebrows given Antrim's incremental gains in previous years, there was a case of it being taken a little out of context as it was in reference to a new style of play.

Year one brought two Division 1B league wins which cemented Antrim's place in the division, but five defeats in the Leinster Championship saw them relegated back to the Joe McDonagh Cup for the first time since 2022.

This year, Antrim just about avoided the drop in the league on scoring difference, while two defeats in their opening McDonagh Cup games gave them a mountain to climb to reach the final.

That proved out of reach despite three-straight wins including Sunday's final round victory over Carlow, with Fitzgerald turning down his third-year option to remain at the helm.

"The man's been up for the past two years and put his heart and soul into it," Antrim forward James McNaughton told BBC Sport NI.

"It hasn't worked out how we'd have liked with some of the performances, but a lot comes down to the players as well.

"He took a lot of flak and it wasn't right a lot of the time, so it's good to get a good performance out for him because there is hard work put in and I don't care what people say, but he's brought us on a bit.

"When he first came up we thought it was going to be a lot different. There was a lot of optimism, it just didn't work out but I've a lot of time for him and always will."

Following defeat by Laois in round two to the competition, a leaked letter from the players to the Antrim county board asked for clarity whether their manager had been sacked and reinstated, with a follow-up statement from Antrim GAA denying that was the case.

A request by players for a meting with Antrim officials failed to materialise initially, leading to the cancellation of a training session but the situation was resolved with the Saffrons going on to win their final three games.

"Outside the group it was probably seen as a distraction, but we knew what we were at and what had happened - we were just standing up for ourselves," McNaughton continued.

"After it, we got together on the Thursday and just said, 'right lads, that's it squashed and we'll go at it for the next three weeks'.

"We went at it, won the next three games but that's it over unfortunately."

The response to win three games off the back of a bad week for Antrim hurling perhaps was an indication of the resole within the group.

Defender Stephen Rooney - who captained the side on Sunday in his last appearance in county colours - insists internal issues being made public "wasn't disruptive" to the players and "it may have been big outside but internally we were fine".

Sport remains a results-based industry but while defeats on the pitch led to unease outside the squad, Rooney insists they "stuck together" and feels some of the criticism the outgoing manager received was unfair.

"Davy came in with a plan," he said.

"This team is probably in transition. We lost a lot of players like [Neil] McManus, [Conor] McCann, Niall McKenna... When Davy first came in, things went well and we thought he would do well, but you need results.

"As players, we've massive respect [for him]. There's a lot of outside stick Davy gets, but we stuck together."