On turning down the Galway job in 2019, Fitzgerald recalled: “Let’s just say it was pretty nailed on.
“I pulled it at the last second because the time I had in Wexford was unreal and the players were incredibly loyal.
“I’d my mind made up that I was gone. The chairman Derek Kent, after the game against Tipp in ‘19, I told him, ‘listen, I can’t do this. I’m just wrecked. I’m going.’ He said, ‘Davy, take six weeks now, take six weeks. Don’t say nothing.’
“After about four or five, I was approached by someone, spent a good bit of time with them, and that was would I go to Galway.”
Fitzgerald added: “Eventually, after a few weeks, I was humming and hawing because I didn’t want to let the Wexford players down. I rang and I told that person that I’d do it. That was on a Saturday. They were meant to announce it the following Thursday.
“On the Wednesday, I got a few calls from two (Wexford) players and what they said to me, emotionally blackmailed me. I remember saying to Sharon that ‘I can’t leave them down.’
“So I changed my mind. I had to ring that other person back. I didn’t really want to leave them back because he’s an unbelievable person that I’ve worked with before. Top class man I didn’t want to but I changed my mind.”
