Fitzgerald winning an even bigger battle
The Charleville club that he has given a life of service to are set for a landmark day as they feature in the All-Ireland club junior hurling final against Kilkenny champions St Patrick’s.
The North Cork town will be emptied of its inhabitants as the mass migration to Dublin takes place. And Fitzgerald, who has been absent ever since suffering a serious spinal injury when playing centre-back in the Cork junior hurling semi-final last October, will be with his friends, neighbours and family soaking in the atmosphere as the team, featuring his brother Conor at full-back, chase national glory.
He was allowed home to spend Christmas with his family for 10 days and one Sunday morning last month before Charleville played Manchester side Fullen Gaels in the All-Ireland semi-final, he surprised his teammates by turning up in his wheelchair to watch them train. But this will be his first time seeing them live in action. Local radio commentator John Cashman of C103 has provided the soundtrack as Fitzgerald kept tabs on all of Charleville’s games but audio can’t compete with the live experience.
“It’s like Cork playing in an All-Ireland final. You have that excitement. This is the first game that I’m going to be able to go to. I wouldn’t have been able to travel down to Waterford, it was too far. But Croke Park is so near and so wheelchair friendly as well. I was allowed home for Christmas and I went in a wheelchair to Charleville training before the Fullen Gaels game. My family are unbelievable. They make it so easy for me to go home. Sarah (his fiancée) is going to pick me up (Saturday) morning and we’re going to drive over to the hotel. It’s hard not to be playing but at the same time, I’m just so happy they’ve come so far. They’re a driving force for me. When I see them doing so well, I’m down with the physio (in Dun Laoghaire) trying to push myself that bit harder. It gives you inspiration, it really does.”
Darkness was closing in on Dun Laoghaire and the sky was beginning to spit rain last Thursday. Spend some time with Dessie Fitzgerald in a small room near St Joseph’s Ward and you are left with a warm glow. The 29-year-old has suffered hardship but he radiates unmistakable positivity.
On Oct 8 last year, Fitzgerald took to the field in Fr Con Buckley Park in Buttevant. He was centre-back on the Charleville team that faced Kilbrin. Charleville won the game but the result was overshadowed by what happened to Fitzgerald before half-time.
“I saw the ball around the 21-yard line and I dived in to flick it away,” he recalls. “I was at full-reach and my two legs were in the air, and I got a knee somewhere. I remember when it happened initially at the game, I looked over and saw my hand on the ground. I thought it was chopped off because I could see it but I couldn’t feel it. I knew straight away. I could shrug my shoulder but anything below that, I couldn’t move a thing.
“There was two nurses with the Kilbrin team. One nurse in specific, she’s going to be the first woman I call out to when I go home. I don’t know her name. My fiancée only got her number the other day. I’m going to be ringing her and I can’t wait to thank her so much. If I’d been moved on the field, it could have been a different story. I was in a bit of a daze and there was a second lady showed up as well.”
He was transferred from the pitch to a waiting ambulance and taken to Cork University Hospital. After a few hours there, he was transferred to the Mater Hospital in Dublin.
“It was worrying, a long journey up to Cork. They wanted to send me to the Mater straight away to get an MRI scan done. That journey was even worse because I was in so much pain. I was waiting for about maybe 10 hours before the results of that scan came back. They just said it was central spinal cord syndrome, a bleed in the spinal chord. They said they didn’t know what would happen. From there I spent five weeks in the Mater, intense and worrying. In the Mater they were brilliant, I got a little physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Then I came out to here (Dun Laoghaire) and that’s where it really started kicking off.”
Charleville club chairman Mike Walsh has been friends for years with Fitzgerald’s father, Dessie Senior. He has watched Dessie Junior’s approach to life and hurling, and was in little doubt that Fitzgerald would face this challenge with remarkable courage.
“He’s very strong, very determined and a great character. Dessie’s got a great attitude to life. Whatever he turns his hand to, he’ll make it happen. In hurling he was a leader and the way he was in helping young players was just fantastic.”
Dessie’s hurling career has sprinkled with achievement. In September 2000, he was part of the Cork minor hurling squad defeated 2-19 to 4-10 in a thrilling All-Ireland decider by Galway. Tomás O’Leary, Setanta Ó hAilpín and John Gardiner were all contemporaries of Fitzgerald’s. The following May, Fitzgerald tasted Croke Park glory as part of the St Colman’s (Fermoy) side that claimed the All-Ireland colleges title. An attacking masterclass by Limerick’s Andrew O’Shaughnessy underpinned their triumph against Gort.
“I moved from the CBS (in Charleville) to Colman’s for fifth year and sixth year, I was boarding there,” outlines Fitzgerald. “The standard was unbelievably high. It was massive up in Croke Park against Gort. Shaughs destroyed the majority of teams we played that year. We played Dublin Colleges in the semi-final and we were down five points. But in the space of a couple of minutes, he banged two goals. He was the main man. Denis Ring was our manager, he was with the Cork minors at the time, and he was a great man to get into fella’s heads.”
In 2003 Fitzgerald was a substitute on the Cork team that won the All-Ireland IHC title and a year later he was the prolific wing-back displaying outstanding marksmanship as they regained the crown. In the drawn decider against Kilkenny, Fitzgerald registered 0-5 and followed that up with a 0-3 haul in the replay. Throughout his inter-county and colleges exploits, the desire to succeed with Charleville never waned. They came out the wrong side of Cork junior hurling finals in 2001 and 2007 but Fitzgerald’s belief that they would claim silverware never wavered.
“Against Courcey Rovers in the 2001 final, I was playing full-back. We were so close when we were up a couple of points but next thing they got a goal and their goalie made unbelievable stops. It just wasn’t our day. Then we played Barryroe and we just flopped. Any county title in Cork is hard won.
“It was almost embarrassing when you looked at the clubs around us. You’d Ballyhea and Milford who’d be intermediate, Newtownshandrum winning Cork senior titles. All the Limerick surrounding clubs would be up senior as well. You’re looking on with a bit of jealousy. That’s the standard you want to reach yourself. I always felt we were really close to being up intermediate level.”
On Nov 6 last, almost a month after Dessie’s accident on that same pitch in Buttevant, Charleville secured intermediate hurling status when claiming the Cork junior crown. Their defensive lynchpin may have been missing but he never strayed from their thoughts. Shortly after that game, he left the Mater and it was in Dun Laoghaire where his recovery began.
“It’s like hurling training, the more you put in, the more you’re going to get out. That’s my attitude. I start at 10am and I don’t finish until 5pm. It’s really intense but intense is the way you’d want it. It’s like running a marathon every day.
“The staff are unbelievable. I start off in the morning and go down to the gym. I go from there into occupational therapy which is all upper body. I go from there to physiotherapy, I’m there for two to two and a half hours every day. It’s really intense, mainly focusing on the legs.
“From there I go to a lokomat. It’s a machine here, it’s like Robocop is the only way to describe it! The machine brings you off walking and you’ve to try go walking with it. I finish then at five. Since I’ve been in the Mater, I’ve been trying to drive myself on during the day and get loads of sleep at night.”
His remarkable worth ethic and enthusiasm has been rewarded.
“I’ve got movement back everywhere. My hands, I can now hold a fork with a big handle. My legs have got so much stronger. I’ve taken a few steps with a zimmer frame — now there was physiotherapists around me, but that’s huge and that was only last week. It’s going to be slow. What they’re saying is that it’s going to take two years and then you see how far you’ve come after the two years.”
The level of support Fitzgerald has received has been overwhelming from family, friends and Cognis in Cork where the electrical engineer worked. The manner in which GAA people have rallied around has reminded him of the value of being immersed in the organisation. “The Charleville club have been amazing. Even the surrounding clubs as well. I’ve got so many letters and people from all over calling up to me as well. Micheal Ó Muircheartaigh came down to me in the gym, a good few weeks ago now. He was inspirational. Dónal Óg Cusack has constantly been ringing about me. He was up in the club last Friday night as well which was great to hear and Mike (Walsh) mentioned as well that the club have got so many letters as well from Cork players. That drives you on knowing people like that know you.”
Tonight he will be at HQ for a momentous occasion for Charleville GAA. The club are helping with a golf classic organised to raise funds for him on Apr 11 and 13. In between, he has his own big day. On Mar 16, Dessie is getting married to his fiancée Sarah in Charleville before going to Ballyseede Castle in Tralee for the reception.
“It had crossed our minds to postpone it,” he admits. “But look, it’s a goal to have. Sarah’s been brilliant. We’ve been going out five years. She’s been amazing, I can’t thank her enough. You need support, I needed my family, who are unbelievable, and Sarah. There’s light at the end of the tunnel. I just have to stay focused and really drive on. That’s the way it has to be. I’d be very hopeful.”
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