Cha set for action ahead of epic club showdown

IS NOTHING in hurling beyond the reach of Cha Fitzpatrick?

Perennial winner with his club, Ballyhale Shamrocks, at underage and now at senior, likewise with his county, Kilkenny, Cha is now taking his Midas hurling touch on to the very competitive college scene.

Normally, because of the numbers game, it could be safely predicted that in the storied Fitzgibbon Cup, the student teachers of cosy St Pat’s in Drumcondra have little hope of ever breaking their duck, little hope then of winning the 2009 version, to be hosted this year by Trinity College, Dublin.

Last Tuesday, however, due in no small measure to the efforts of Cha, a final-year student, St Pat’s hammered the Garda College 1-18 to 1-8 — in their home patch at that — and thus kept their interest for this year alive.

Five points Cha scored, from the unfamiliar position of centre-forward, four of those from play, combined very effectively up front with his Kilkenny inter-county colleagues Richie Hogan and Damien Fogarty. Today, St Pat’s are again in action, a postponed fixture against NUIG, but much as he’d like to again take his place as the fulcrum of the attack, Cha will be sitting this one out.

He has good reason; only recently returned to action after an illness that saw him hospitalised, albeit briefly, Cha will now need all his energies for the challenge facing Ballyhale in Thurles on Sunday, when they take on reigning champions Portumna in the All-Ireland senior hurling club semi-final.

“I got some sort of a virus, was very weak after it, my blood levels all wrong,” he explained this week in Knocktopher, one of the three villages that go to make up the club; “I still have a lot of catching up to do fitness-wise; the first time I picked up a hurl since last November was last Saturday.

“But I enjoyed the break, creates freshness — I’m working my way back gradually, hopefully hit the ground running against Portumna.” Gradually? Then again, I suppose, when you’re Cha Fitzpatrick, when you’re headed for recognition as one of the greatest hurling midfielders of all time, when you already have three All-Ireland senior medals in your collection to go with your three county senior gongs, plus an All-Ireland club title, plus three All-Star awards, plus a young hurler-of-the-year decoration, and you’re still only 24, well, five points in a college match is probably still only a gradual return to top action.

The problem for Cha, and for Ballyhale, however, is that come Sunday, he’s going to need to be at his considerable best if the Kilkenny champions are to win this one. Against other sides, a half-fit player — even one as gifted as he undoubtedly is — would survive, even thrive; Portumna aren’t just any other side, however. Strong as Ballyhale are, successful as they are, Portumna can match them stride for stride.

The Galway championship is just as competitive as Kilkenny’s, yet Portumna have won three of the last six, and on two of those occasions, in 2006 and 2008, they have gone on to gather All-Ireland honours.

Champions in the year between? Ballyhale Shamrocks. This match, then, is one which has the hurling purists drooling in anticipation.

“In neutral eyes it is going to be the best club match in a long, long time, without a doubt. In our minds it is just a game we have win.

“They’re All-Ireland champions, champions from two years before that as well; they have a lot of experience, they know what it takes to win. We played them once in a challenge match, last summer, but there were inter-county players missing, a few injuries and stuff like that. Portumna beat us, but it was very competitive.

“This one is as close as you are going to get to an inter-county match at club level. You’d see on some clubs sides there might be a bit of a tail on teams, but there is no tail on either side, each with a serious strong 15, and a lot of talented players on the bench.

“We hear reports about how well they are going in challenge matches, but to be honest we are just keeping our heads down and just trying to get ourselves together after the Christmas break. Everyone has done a lot of work in preparation, all the hard challenge matches are out of the way. Most of the lads are very fit, it’s just a case of sharpening up at this stage. Hopefully it will stand to us on February 22.”