WILL FITZGERALD: 'We want to have a fast start this year!' | Sligo dreams ahead of 2026 and what's the best chipper in the town?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Off the Ball, GAA. The names you mentioned there, they have a lot of medals and Howard, probably the standout of all of them. But there could be a bit of mind games too by Gerard Brennan in this as well. You can guarantee, we're all asking the question, who's he on about? And you can guarantee the players that are going to be at home going, is he on about me? And when they're turned up to training, probably tonight, maybe there's a bit more umph in him.
Join in the obsession. Subscribe now at offtheball.com forward slash join. Fitzgerald, staring down the barrel of another League of Ireland season.
How are you feeling?
Good.
I feel good, I feel good. It's going to be my tenth season in the league now, so I'd like to consider myself a bit of a veteran now, but I'm happy. I'm still going strong and I'm super excited for the season to start.
Obviously, with Sligo since 2022, I mean, three years on the trot now, are you feeling like a regular down there now? I am, I am.
I've been there four or five years now. It's like a second home. I'm really happy there. I've made some good friends. It's an amazing club with even better people behind the scenes pushing everything in a positive direction. So I'm very privileged and grateful to be part of such an amazing club and representing it week in, week out and trying to achieve success for the people of Sligo.
I mean if you look at the end of last season probably a very dramatic end probably not the one you would have wanted really on paper to be coming down to those final game of the season but to have I suppose rallied around the troops and gotten such great results near the end of the season is there a way in which you're going to hopefully channel that form into this season now?
Absolutely, absolutely. We'd be silly not to.
How is Will Fitzgerald feeling ahead of the new League of Ireland season?
We got off to a bad start last season, which is not something we want to replicate this year. But come the mid-season break and the window in the summertime, we brought in some quality players, got some great results, finished the season very strong and got out of trouble in the end, which was a big success and a big achievement for everyone. We just want to kick on now. We don't want to be down near the bottom again and we want to have a fast start this year. That's the main objective going into the season. It's difficult, obviously, a lot of defensive departures, but Shane Blaney coming back, what an unbelievable sign to get. Unbelievable. Shane's a great lad on and off the pitch. He's going to add real quality, real leadership to the group, especially a group that's so young, so it's invaluable.
Myself and Shane, we stayed quite close since he left, and it's amazing to have him back. He's back in training now, he's looking sharp, and he's raring to go, and we're all super happy to have him here.
Was it only the one season you played with him during 2022, was it?
Yes, just the one year. The European campaign where he scored the amazing free kick. So hopefully he can replicate that now this year.
You've got a very tough first game to the season against Derry City. You're always stomping ground as well. You know how difficult it is to go up to the brandy well and get points on the board. I do, I do.
Derry, they've really invested again heavily this year. There's going to be a big buzz around James McLean returning. They have an amazing squad. There's only one objective for them up there and that's to go all the way and win the league and if not cup double and get far in Europe. So it's super exciting. It's going to be sold out. We're expecting a big Sligo contingent up on opening night. So all the players in the dressing room now at Sligo, we really can't wait to get going and hopefully pick up a positive result.
Is there excitement around the community coming up to this season? I know obviously the Cup campaign probably didn't end the way you wanted it to but getting that far there was obviously a lot of excitement around that and that Bohemians result I think in particular got a load of people on their feet and regardless of where you were in the league people were looking forward to the next Cup game.
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