Davy Fitzgerald has revealed he was so concerned with the level of drink and drug-taking in the Clare panel upon taking over as manager in late 2011 that he organised a three-hour team meeting to address the issue.

Speaking yesterday to students at a physical and mental health seminar in the Limerick Institute of Technology, Fitzgerald referred to a meeting in Bunratty soon after he took over that sought to root out a problem he felt had affected Clare teams going back to the previous decade.

Social team
"We brought in a code of discipline. From the mid-2000s in Clare, my feeling was that Clare was a social team," he said. "I know some of them were even taking harder stuff than drink. I couldn't understand this. "I questioned them and I said 'do we really need alcohol and do you need to take substances that will make you feel better.' We teased it out, we spent three hours out in Bunratty teasing it out.

“We decided we were going to stand up and draw a line under it and say, ‘No’. We decided we were going to come to training and enjoy ourselves and were going to communicate with each other. We want to enjoy what we do.”

In the course of a wide-ranging speech, Fitzgerald also revealed that in the wake of the 2011 Munster final, when his Waterford side were beaten 7-19 to 0-19 by Tipperary, he was the subject of more than just verbal abuse from fans.

“I remember getting hit by two or three supporters after a game . . . A few of the Waterford supporters hit me on the way in [to the dressing room] and they tried to get in the dressing room door. It was my fault the team played badly.

“In sport there will be ups and downs in a big way. While last year was unbelievable for me, I never forget what it was like to be low, and there are low points you have to deal with.”