"He did say after the year was out, he was 50:50. I kind of didn't believe him. I thought 'Jaysus, we're going well'.
"In the end, he did go into the different reasons. He took his time, he didn't announce it straight away.
"But when he did announce it, I must admit I was a little bit surprised."
With Fitzgerald now bound for Antrim, Queally's elevation to manager represents continuity for a Waterford side who will begin next season in the second tier of the league, following their failure to crack the top four in Division 1 Group A last year.
The new manager has already received a boost with Austin Gleeson confirming his return in 2025, the former Hurler of the Year having opted out last summer, and Queally stresses that a county in Waterford's position cannot afford to be without their key players.
"It's a big advantage for me to step in, having been there the last two years. It probably took us a year and a half to get to know the lads really well," said Queally.
"The one thing about Waterford is, we need everyone on board. For different reasons, everyone wasn't there last year. Through injury and taking a year out and travelling and stuff.
"We'll be revisiting all them guys and trying to get them back on board this year. We do need everyone. Hopefully the lads that are already there will re-commit.
"Austin Gleeson, Conor Gleeson, Cormac Daly - he'd a cruciate at the end of the previous year - these are guys that would bolster the panel, very much so."
Queally was a longstanding midfielder for Waterford, soldiering through the lean years of the early-to-mid 1990s, surviving long enough to play his part in the county's renaissance at the end of the decade and subsequently featuring in the long-awaited Munster SHC triumph in 2002.
His extensive coaching CV within the county encompasses stints in charge of the minor and U-21 hurlers, the senior footballers, the aforementioned spells as senior selector. In addition, he guided Passage to the Waterford SHC title in 2013, the last time a club other than Ballygunner won the Waterford crown.
Queally, who in the meantime is involved with Kilmallock in Limerick for the duration of the current club season, disputes the suggestion, widespread within Waterford, that Ballygunner's stranglehold on the Waterford SHC over the past decade has been damaging for the county's seniors.
"I've heard the narrative but I wouldn't agree with it. When these Ballygunner lads come back into the set-up, they bring a different mindset - a mindset and a culture that they've developed through very hard work and a professional approach.
"It can only benefit Waterford in my opinion. I don't buy the narrative that it isn't good for Waterford hurling."
In his first round of interviews as manager, Queally generated a few headlines by calling for a major tweak to the provincial round-robin format, arguing that four counties should progress from each province, setting up an eight-team quarter-final stage.
While critics fired back that this would dramatically lessen the jeopardy in the provincial round-robin series - especially in Leinster, which would essentially be neutered as a league format - Queally points to the All-Ireland group phase in the football championship as evidence that this isn't so.
And the Déise boss insists his call is not at all motivated by Waterford's championship exit after finishing fourth in 2024.
"It wasn't a kneejerk (reaction) to us finishing fourth this year," stressed Queally.
"It would have crossed my mind even last summer when Cork were so unlucky and they were on the receiving end of the fine margins.
"Funny enough, I was talking to Pat Ryan a few weeks ago and he reckons Cork were playing better last year than this year. Even though they got through this year and narrowly missed out last year.
"Also, I'd love to see a hurling weekend of four quarter-finals. Say if you'd that scenario this year, where the top four in each province go through, as well as the two quarter-finals that took place, you could have had us against Kilkenny, which would have been a very attractive quarter-final. You could have had Galway against Limerick, another very attractive quarter-final.
"Obviously, the jeopardy of only three getting through in Munster probably adds to the tension and the drama. We know how much neutrals and all hurling people love the Munster championship and the drama that's there, year in, year out. Maybe it takes a little bit of the jeopardy away and will take a little bit from it. But I don't think it will.
"In fairness to the football championship, they have groups of four, and only one gets knocked out. Three go through.
"It was fairly dramatic come the last round of games in that as well, so I don't see why if you have four out of five in the provinces going through, there wouldn't be as much drama as in the football."
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