THE TWIN ISSUES of fixtures and venues have hung over the Dublin footballers in recent weeks but for defender Michael Fitzsimons, the upcoming schedule of games is something he’s looking forward to getting stuck into.
Take that journey to Omagh on Saturday week to face Tyrone in Healy Park.
“That’ll be fantastic, there’ll just be some road trip. My football team in Cuala got the bus down to Portlaoise for the Wicklow game, it broke down halfway through and they ended up getting their pic taken.
“RTÉ do an update on all the games and they were the cover photo of it because they got a photo when they were passing by. Just great stuff like that.
“More games at the top level at the quarter-final stage is exactly what you want. Less time training and doing that analysis and preparation, more time just getting out on the pitch and enjoying it.”
Fitzsimons got an insight into the impact of away sporting days on a team with his club Cuala’s hurlers sweeping to provincial and All-Ireland glories of late.
“I feel unfortunately I’ve missed out on some of those great travels, we’ve had league games for both their away semi-finals. One of them was up in Armagh and then there was one down in Thurles this year. So I missed both them which is unfortunate. But I’ve been at Leinster games and both (All-Ireland) finals and really enjoyed it.
“Dalkey really got behind them. Outside the corner of The Club Bar, they had art painting on all the windows, caricatures of all the players. Outside one of the Italian restaurants, Benitos, they had the Cuala crest and Forza Cuala and stuff like that. It definitely seems to have come more to the forefront.
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“There’s also, Mick O’Brien one of my team-mates fathers, he goes and drapes all Glasthule and Dalkey when Dublin get to a quarter-final or semi-final stage with Dublin bunting all the way down.
“So one morning I might wake up and there’d be bunting all the way down Avondale Road where I live, all the way down to Dalkey, which really creates a bit of a buzz and atmosphere. Definitely over the last few years it (GAA) has risen.”
Cuala supporters during last December's Leinster club hurling final. Ken Sutton / INPHO
Ken Sutton / INPHO / INPHO
Fitzsimons is able to focus primarily on his football duties at present, he’s off for a couple of weeks at present ahead of a return to studying in UCD in the autumn. This is set to be his final year as he completes his studies in Medicine after switching from working as a physio.
“It’s something I always found interesting. When I went and started physio, (I) learned about stuff outside physio, some of the more medical problems and the surgeries, I found interesting. Then when I got into physio, there was a lot of working with sports teams, that wasn’t of much interest with me.
“I didn’t fancy setting up a clinic really. A lot of it would be a lot of social media and I’d have to really promote it a lot and I didn’t fancy selling Dublin player doing a physio clinic and all that. That wasn’t my personality so I thought I’d be more suited to medicine so I went back (to college).
“(It was) a big undertaking. Fortunately as a physio, I could still work in clinics and clinics were nice to me. It’s not too strenuous, it’s enjoyable. You’re learning about stuff you’re interested in.”
He’ll be parking those thoughts of studies for the next few weeks and thinking about the challenge that awaits in policing some of the best attackers in the game.
“Corner-back is one of those positions where you play different types of forwards so you have to recognise their traits, what they do, their movements, stuff like that.
“Your the last line of defence and any small mistake can have quite significant setbacks. You’d look at that and see how you can fine-tune things. I’d sort of enjoy that aspect of it.”
One marquee forward that Fitzsimons will not have to counteract this weekend is Patrick McBrearty, Donegal’s inside man who has been sidelined with cruciate damage.
Michael Fitzsimons in action against Patrick McBrearty in the 2016 football league semi-final. Colm O'Neill / INPHO
Colm O'Neill / INPHO / INPHO
“(He’s) a big loss. A great player, and just so accurate from anywhere inside the ’45. So, yeah, it’s tough on them but they have some great new young players and some great forwards to step up and will be confident.
“It looks like they’ve changed and evolved and added new players. Eoin Bán Gallagher, Jamie Brennan, new lads coming through like that. And a few lads who have come back from years away and stuff like that, which has obviously been a boost.
“(Odhran) MacNiallais and (Leo) McLoone were away for a bit. It should be good, I’m looking forward to it.”
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Road trips for fans, Cuala's rising, studying medicine and the challenge of Donegal
THE TWIN ISSUES of fixtures and venues have hung over the Dublin footballers in recent weeks but for defender Michael Fitzsimons, the upcoming schedule of games is something he’s looking forward to getting stuck into.
Take that journey to Omagh on Saturday week to face Tyrone in Healy Park.
“That’ll be fantastic, there’ll just be some road trip. My football team in Cuala got the bus down to Portlaoise for the Wicklow game, it broke down halfway through and they ended up getting their pic taken.
“RTÉ do an update on all the games and they were the cover photo of it because they got a photo when they were passing by. Just great stuff like that.
“More games at the top level at the quarter-final stage is exactly what you want. Less time training and doing that analysis and preparation, more time just getting out on the pitch and enjoying it.”
Fitzsimons got an insight into the impact of away sporting days on a team with his club Cuala’s hurlers sweeping to provincial and All-Ireland glories of late.
“I feel unfortunately I’ve missed out on some of those great travels, we’ve had league games for both their away semi-finals. One of them was up in Armagh and then there was one down in Thurles this year. So I missed both them which is unfortunate. But I’ve been at Leinster games and both (All-Ireland) finals and really enjoyed it.
“Dalkey really got behind them. Outside the corner of The Club Bar, they had art painting on all the windows, caricatures of all the players. Outside one of the Italian restaurants, Benitos, they had the Cuala crest and Forza Cuala and stuff like that. It definitely seems to have come more to the forefront.
“There’s also, Mick O’Brien one of my team-mates fathers, he goes and drapes all Glasthule and Dalkey when Dublin get to a quarter-final or semi-final stage with Dublin bunting all the way down.
“So one morning I might wake up and there’d be bunting all the way down Avondale Road where I live, all the way down to Dalkey, which really creates a bit of a buzz and atmosphere. Definitely over the last few years it (GAA) has risen.”
Fitzsimons is able to focus primarily on his football duties at present, he’s off for a couple of weeks at present ahead of a return to studying in UCD in the autumn. This is set to be his final year as he completes his studies in Medicine after switching from working as a physio.
“It’s something I always found interesting. When I went and started physio, (I) learned about stuff outside physio, some of the more medical problems and the surgeries, I found interesting. Then when I got into physio, there was a lot of working with sports teams, that wasn’t of much interest with me.
“I didn’t fancy setting up a clinic really. A lot of it would be a lot of social media and I’d have to really promote it a lot and I didn’t fancy selling Dublin player doing a physio clinic and all that. That wasn’t my personality so I thought I’d be more suited to medicine so I went back (to college).
“(It was) a big undertaking. Fortunately as a physio, I could still work in clinics and clinics were nice to me. It’s not too strenuous, it’s enjoyable. You’re learning about stuff you’re interested in.”
He’ll be parking those thoughts of studies for the next few weeks and thinking about the challenge that awaits in policing some of the best attackers in the game.
“Corner-back is one of those positions where you play different types of forwards so you have to recognise their traits, what they do, their movements, stuff like that.
“Your the last line of defence and any small mistake can have quite significant setbacks. You’d look at that and see how you can fine-tune things. I’d sort of enjoy that aspect of it.”
One marquee forward that Fitzsimons will not have to counteract this weekend is Patrick McBrearty, Donegal’s inside man who has been sidelined with cruciate damage.
“(He’s) a big loss. A great player, and just so accurate from anywhere inside the ’45. So, yeah, it’s tough on them but they have some great new young players and some great forwards to step up and will be confident.
“It looks like they’ve changed and evolved and added new players. Eoin Bán Gallagher, Jamie Brennan, new lads coming through like that. And a few lads who have come back from years away and stuff like that, which has obviously been a boost.
“(Odhran) MacNiallais and (Leo) McLoone were away for a bit. It should be good, I’m looking forward to it.”
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GAA Michael Fitzsimons Minding His Corner Dublin