Davy Fitzgerald is expected to be cleared for a fifth senior inter-county management job with a fourth different county tomorrow night.
Fitzgerald’s name is to go before Antrim county board delegates for approval as replacement to Darren Gleeson who stepped down after five years in charge last month.
Fitzgerald himself only departed Waterford in July after two years in charge there, having managed them for four years between 2008 and 2011 before that.
Fitzgerald’s Antrim involvement will ensure that he remains at the inter-county coalface for at least a 37th year as either a player, manager or coach.
He quit as a player with Clare midway through the 2007 season but came on board with Waterford in 2008 after Justin McCarthy left mid-season.
Fitzgerald was Clare’s minor goalkeeper in 1989 and graduated to the senior squad the following year where he remained for 18 years.
He managed Clare to the 2013 All-Ireland title and Wexford to the 2019 Leinster title, the only manager to achieve such championship success with three different counties.
After quitting Wexford in 2021 he took over as coach to the Cork camogie team in 2022, under Matthew Twomey’s management, but left to take over in Waterford again.
Antrim produced an eye-catching result in this year’s Leinster SHC round robin when they beat Wexford.
Given his vast coaching experience and the draw that he remains to the hurling public, getting Fitzgerald on board is a coup for Antrim hurling.
But he faces an onerous travel schedule with in excess of eight-hour round trips from his Sixmilebridge base, if he sets off from there.