By John Harrington

Brendan Cummins believes Clare manager Davy Fizgerald will influence Sunday’s All-Ireland Quarter-Final against Galway despite his recent health issues.

Fitzgerald’s involvement on the sideline is in doubt after he underwent minor heart surgery on Wednesday.

But former Tipperary goalkeeper Cummins believes it would take more than that to stop him having a positive role on the day.

“It's certainly a tricky one because Davy's such a great leader to these Clare players but he's got a strong backroom team obviously with Donal Óg in there as well and they'll have it well planned there's no doubt about that but players get on about their business now four or five days before a match,” said Cummins.

“They know there's no excuses if they lose Sunday evening (regardless of) the fact that Davy was in or out of the hospital, obviously everybody, sport aside, is wishing him a speedy recovery and all.

“When you're inside in there you just want to win the match and that's it so I'm sure they have other plans in place.

“Davy is a really organised man and I'd said now whether the man was in a coma, knocked out, whatever the case may be, he'll be getting messages into his group inside and keeping the fire lit under them. They'll be fine and hopefully he'll back on the line again at the weekend.”

Clare will face a Galway team fired up to prove a point after the stinging criticism they received from former Clare and Galway manager Ger Loughnane in the wake of their Leinster Final defeat to Kilkenny.

Loughnane described them as ‘gutless’, but Cummins believes he spoke out of frustration more than anything else at Galway’s inability to consistently deliver on their potential.

“Ah, sure, poor aul Galway, they've gotten slated more times in fairness to them, everyone and their mother has had an opinion on them,” said Cummins.

“We've got as much stick in Tipp but at least we win an All-Ireland every ten years or so which kind of takes the pressure off a small bit like whereas Galway have been different. But I do find it surprising that the last two matches that they played Kilkenny in Croke Park they didn't absolutely cut loose.

“I mean, a lot of us will recognise from a hurling point of view that some teams will be better than you on a given day but that doesn't stop you from trying everything in your damnest to win.

“Because you see unbelievable hurlers like this and you want to go down and shake them and say 'come on, express yourself, you'll regret it otherwise'.

“There is a bit of a jibe going on in his (Loughnane’s) comments but also frustration as a hurling man, and that's me looking on as well. A lot of the Galway players will spark off him and hopefully we'll see the real Galway on Sunday and it should be a good game, God knows hurling needs it.”

Cummins himself was frustrated last year when Galway were unable to reproduce the sort intensity in last year’s All-Ireland Final against Kilkenny that they had in the semi-final against Tipperary.

“After the game (semi-final) when I was walking away from the stadium I was saying, ‘Maybe Galway have arrived and something good for all the world has come out of all the heartache Tipp are feeling today’. But I was twice as angry leaving the stadium after the All-Ireland final when I thought like 'we would have done better than that'.

“They beat us, they showed passion, they were hugging each other after the game, it looked like a real moment like, then it just petered out after half time (in the All-Ireland Final).

“You'd players standing waiting for others to do it and you just felt 'let's bust through those glass ceilings for yourselves lads' and I think that's a frustration for all hurling people looking at this Galway team and it must be real hard for them inside but they're the only ones that can fix it.”

Cummins is also looking forward to Sunday’s other All-Ireland Quarter-Final between Waterford and Wexford and thinks Derek McGrath’s team can make amends for their Munster final defeat to Tipp as long as they don’t doubt themselves.

“Waterford will be interesting. For me, it will all depend on how long Wexford can keep Waterford thinking about what they're going to do next. Because if Waterford keep second guessing themselves, 'Are we really playing the right system?', if the management start talking to each other, then I think it's going the same way as the Tipperary game.

“But if Waterford start playing off instinct and get a flow going then they're going to win the game. They should win the game, it's an ideal game for Waterford coming out after the Tipp game because they were very low after that, there's no doubt about that.”