Seventeen minutes into their All-Ireland quarter-final with Dublin, things were not going fully to plan for Clare.
Darragh Power had just scored a goal to put the underdogs 1-05 to 1-04 ahead, even after losing star forward Dónal Burke to injury.
Banner fans must have been having flashbacks to last year, when the momentum built up in Munster evaporated in a fortunate escape against Wexford.
The fear didn't last long. Two and a half minutes to be precise.
Shane O'Donnell came back into his own half to win the ball and handpassed to 6’4 David Fitzgerald, who was on his own 65.
Off the big man set, tearing past Conor Burke and James Madden and soloing upfield. Burke pursued him gamely but couldn't close the gap, nor could goalscorer Power. Dublin full-back Eoghan O'Donnell hovered on the 20, torn between closing down the shot and guarding against the handpass, which Fitzgerald duly delivered to Mark Rodgers – he bounced off the challenging O'Donnell and goalkeeper Sean Brennan before firing into the empty goal from almost on the line.
Mark Rodgers restores Clare's lead, bundling home from close range after a wonderful run from David Fitzgerald
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Approaching first-half injury time, Peter Duggan broke a ball down for Fitzgerald, who put a perfect handpass into the stride of Tony Kelly for the sharpshooter to bury Clare's third goal.
O’Donnell added another before the interval when it was already game over but Fitzgerald kept the foot down right to the finish.
In the 68th minute, he was at it again, stealing the ball off Fergal Whitely, shrugging off the challenge of Conor Burke, sprinting down the right sideline and firing over his fourth point of the day (11th of the championship) from a tight angle 25 metres out.
The midfielder, who must surely be on course for a second successive All-Star, hails from Inagh, a West Clare village 15km from Ennis, a little over halfway down the N85 to Ennistymon.
It’s hilly country, not far from Slieve Callan and home of the famed St Tola goat’s cheese.
Inagh shares a church parish with Kilnamona, a smaller village seven kilometres further east towards Ennis.
Kilnamona were three-time Clare champions in the early years of the 20th century, providing four county captains, while they won the intermediate crown in 1998, an achievement emulated by Inagh in 2005.
Both clubs flitted between the top two grades around that time but with falling playing numbers started to combine for underage level.
In 2007, Inagh-Kilnamona won a Clare U21 title with future All-Ireland winner Patrick Kelly in goal, and the following year the two clubs formally merged at adult level.
"We would have been struggling to put out teams in Kilnamona, in the lower grades," says club chairman Oliver Mescall.
"There was an amalgamation at underage, they won minor (in 2005) and 21, so that was kind of the springboard, the boys wanted to stay together."
The club has kept pitches in both locations, and recently expanded the Kilnamona facility. They have two teams at most underage grands and three adult teams: senior, intermediate and adult.
Inagh-Kilnamona contested their first senior county final in 2021, losing to Tony Kelly’s Ballyea by a single point, and were knocked out by runners-up Éire Óg in the quarters last year. Former Clare selector Louis Mulqueen is the manager for this season.
They had four players on the Clare team that won a first minor All-Ireland in 16 years last month and have the same number in Brian Lohan’s senior squad: Aidan McCarthy (injured today), Sean Rynne (also U20) and goalkeeper Eamon Foudy, who is a first cousin of Fitzgerald.
David’s sister Jane plays for the club’s championship-winning camogie side and county camogie co-captain Clare Hehir is their cousin too. Fitzgerald’s father Brian is a former player and chairperson of the club.
Following the disappointment of the All-Ireland semi-final exit to Kilkenny, all were very proud when David deservedly won the the club's first All-Star last October.
"It was like winning a final, it was a brilliant," says Mescall. "People met in houses and in Sean Rynne’s in Inagh to watch it, it was like after a match.
"He was always a good player. He played a lot in the forwards for us. I’d say Clare minor would have been the first time he was put into the backs. He ended up at full back for the 21s and then the defence for UL as well, he has drifted up the field again now.
"He’s very versatile. Hugely athletic. If he tunes in, he can play any position."
A beaten U21 Munster finalist at full-back against Limerick in 2015, Fitzgerald was given his debut by namesake Davy Fitz – he occasionally receives errant texts asking for challenge matches - in what proved the manager’s last season with Clare, 2016.
He started off at wing-forward but was No 7 by the time the Banner beat Waterford in a league final replay, when he scored a point. He also started the Munster semi-final rematch when the Déise turned the tables and came off the bench in the win over Limerick and defeat to Galway.
In 2017, he suffered his first senior Munster final setback, against Cork, and the next year was ever present in the first edition of the round-robin, which again ended in provincial anguish at the hands of the rebels and an extra-time reverse by the Tribesmen in his first All-Ireland semi-final appearance.
Fitzgerald now works in aircraft leasing, having completed a master’s in UCD’s Smurfit Business School, but at the time he was studying at the University of Limerick.
Treaty great Gary Kirby picked him for the Freshers and then Fitzgibbon Cup sides, where he played alongside centre-back Gearóid Hegarty on the '18 team that beat DCU in the decider, a squad that had 11 then or future All-Ireland winners, including Tony Kelly, John McGrath, Seán Finn, Barry Heffernan, Tom Morrissey and Jason Forde. The riches ran so deep that they won without the injured Barry Nash and Kyle Hayes while Mike Casey and Pat Ryan came off the bench.
"If we didn't win it with those kind of players I’d say the manager would have been shot!" jokes Kirby.
Amidst all that talent, Fitzgerald was man of the match, scoring twice from play.
"David was getting better and better every year," recalls Kirby.
"Tony Kelly was on the team as well. He’s a different level but I’d say it was David Fitz that took the game to Dublin in the last match."
"A very down to earth, sound chap. He would have been quiet enough amongst the group when we had him. Fully committed, honest. One thing you always got with him was honesty."
Kirby has been impressed with Fitzgerald’s transformation into a central cog of the Clare machine in the ensuing seasons, and his development into a free-scoring midfielder. The only game Clare lost in the group phase was the opening round against Tipperary, when he was suspended.
"I’m not surprised he made it but I’m surprised how strongly he has come on over the last five years.
"The potential was always there but he has improved everything: his touch, his movement, his vision.
"We all know what Tony brings to the set up but if you took David Fitz out of that midfield, Clare would struggle.
"He has strength. Very few people would win a 50-50 battle with him. He has adapted to midfield very well and he’s very good going forward. When big men make a burst right through the centre, they’re hard to stop.
"He’s playing with great confidence as well. Last year and this year he has added scoring as well, putting in three or four points every game.
"Not alone has he added the runs, he has added the finish too. Or he’s laying off the pass that creates the score. You often see fellas going off on solo runs and the ball being lost at the other side of the field but a lot of his runs create something."
Kirby worked with Clare manager Brian Lohan at UL, succeeding him as Fitzgibbon manager, and including him in his first backroom team at Patrickswell. Cian Lynch, Diarmaid Byrnes and Aaron Gillane were on the team when Kirby's second spell in charge ended a 13-year wait for the Limerick title.
Can his former student and old colleague help the Banner to go one better than last year and reach a first All-Ireland final in a decade?
"Brian has put total belief into them," says Kirby. "He has brought this work ethic that he always had as a player himself into the whole panel.
"He’s a total hurling man, totally committed to what he does and total focus on what he wants to do. When we played against him it was nothing but 100% from Brian, every time. Even if it was a practice match, it was always hands on.
"They probably should have beaten Limerick in the Munster final only for the chances that they missed in the last five minutes. They had some great opportunities for points that they hit wide. They’ll know themselves deep down that they’re every bit as good as Limerick but the problem is trying to get over the line.
"The big question for Clare is are Conor Cleary, John Conlon and David McInerney fit? At the moment, if you had to pick a weak spot on the Clare team, it would be the full-back line. I would think they’ll need all those three to get over Kilkenny. Kilkenny in Croke Park is a different game to anywhere else. But they’re definitely a big threat."
Fitzgerald was one of the few Clare players to test the Cats in last year's semi-final meltdown. Expect the Inagh-Kilnamona man to play a central role if they are to reverse the result today and reach a first All-Ireland final in a decade.
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship semi-final between Clare and Kilkenny live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 2.15pm, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport or listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch highlights on The Sunday Game, RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, 9.30pm
