Age a factor but never an obstacle for Kieran Fitzgerald

Age has always been an issue in Kieran Fitzgerald’s life, right from the very first day.

That was on January 1, 1981, just after midnight as it happens, making him the first baby born in Ireland that year.

Was he on the newspapers at the time?

“I was actually, yeah,” smiled the veteran Corofin defender. “My mother says every year that nowadays (January 1 babies) get all the perks. She didn’t get too much back then to be honest.”

The thought struck Fitzgerald before the 2002 All-Ireland U21 final with Galway that his date of birth was significant.

“I remember going around in the parade thinking, ‘There’s nobody older than me here, this has to be some sort of advantage’.”

It probably was, because Fitzgerald locked down a defence that day that conceded just seven points as Galway beat a strong Dublin team.

He’s still hearing about his age now with commentary about how remarkable it is that he’s still involved with a successful team, chasing a fourth consecutive AIB Connacht club title this weekend.

“Loads of people have commented on, ‘Oh, you’re whatever age and you’re still playing’,” said Fitzgerald, an All-Star when Galway won the senior All-Ireland in 2001. “I don’t see it that way. I enjoy it and I feel fit and I’m with a club that’s successful. You want for nothing. You just basically bring your boots and turn up and play football. Everything’s there.

“The guys that are playing in clubs that are struggling at the other end and they’re 38 and they’re struggling along like, they’re the boys that deserve the credit. They don’t see the likes of these days at all. For me, I think there’s a lot more made of it outside of our group than within.”

Age was also an issue when Fitzgerald quit the Galway county team in 2011. He’d had enough as the demands increased and the team’s form under Tomas Ó Flatharta dipped.

“Ah, fed up of it really to be honest,” he reflected, admitting he wouldn’t be still here now, winning provincial and All-Ireland medals with Corofin, if he’d played on with Galway.

“I wouldn’t be, no. I had lots of niggles, hamstring trouble, hip trouble. I got all of those cleared up afterwards, I had groin surgery and I had hip surgery and I had ankle surgery in the next two or three years and got sorted out.”

His former All-Ireland winning colleague Padraic Joyce is the new Galway manager and Fitzgerald expects them to play attractive football.

Yet he isn’t necessarily critical of former boss Kevin Walsh’s decision to often set the team up in defence-first, counter-attacking mode.

“We used to play attractive football but we also used to concede huge cricket scores and I was part of it,” said the full-back. “We weren’t getting anywhere so I know where Kevin was coming from with that (approach). I know he commented before that the Kerry guys used to love playing Galway. Of course they did, because we used to let them play football!”

Plenty still queried why Walsh’s Galway couldn’t replicate the swashbuckling, all-action attacking model favoured by their county champions, Corofin.

“Maybe with players like Damien Comer, Shane Walsh, Eamonn Brannigan, Ian Burke, we could have been a little bit more expansive, pushed the boat out a little bit more,” acknowledged Fitzgerald.

It’s all incidental to Fitzgerald now, Corofin is his primary focus. They play Padraig Pearses of Roscommon in Sunday’s provincial final.

“They have Pat Flanagan managing them, he has inter-county experience,” noted Fitzgerald. “They are well prepared, they are well organised.”