County joy at last for Fitzpatrick, 46

Aidan Fitzpatrick exemplifies persistence, the strongest advocate of the old proverb ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again’ you are likely to encounter.

Some 46 years young and in his 31st season on the Cootehill Celtic hurling team, Fitzpatrick’s long wait for a Cavan senior hurling medal came to an end on Sunday.

The father of three captained Cootehill to a 5-7 to 1-6 replay victory over Ballymachugh at Kingspan Breffni Park, contributing 1-0 from full-forward.

A long-standing goal achieved, surely Fitzpatrick is now content to hang up his boots?

“Not at all,” he quips.

“We are into the Ulster JHC, training recommences this week and we are going to go full belt for the provincial title. We have a panel of 32 so there is a lot of pressure on me to hold my place. The youngest player on the team would be 17. Aside from myself, there is one 30-year old, one 25-year old and all the rest of the team would be U21.”

Having lost count of the number of county finals he has played in, heartache the dominant emotion until last Sunday, why the determination to come back, year after year?

“Ah sure I just love it,” he continued.

“I might have another year in me yet. You never know. The whole family are GAA mad. We play hurling every single day, my wife, my three kids and I. I train about seven or eight teams in the club. I train the senior camogie team, three underage camogie teams and a couple more underage hurling teams.

“It was just unbelievable to finally get my hands on the cup on Sunday. It was fantastic. The last time I won a county final with the club was U14 so it is great to finally get a senior medal.

“The first day out against Ballymachugh was a draw, but earlier in the championship they had beaten us by 16 points so we were definitely not expected to win this.”

He added: “In recent years it genuinely never crossed my mind to retire. Enda Shorten played in goals for Cavan at 52 and won an Ulster hurling title. Now this occurred a number of years back. Enda is my inspiration. I will try and match his feat. This week I am on such a high, I feel like I could stay going for that long.”