Fitzgerald's road to All-Ireland success started at Féile
Corofin players celebrate their 2015 All-Ireland club championship success against Slaughtneil at Croke Park.
By Kevin Egan
Every GAA club and county in existence knows of the importance of underage development in fostering senior success – but none have done a better job of putting that into practice than Corofin GAA club in Galway.
Up until 30 years ago, the club had won three Galway senior football titles. Since 1991, they’ve added 18 more, and accumulated an incredible ten Connacht championships and lifted the Andy Merrigan Cup five times for good measure.
It’s an incredible run, once which they hope to add to in the coming months, and most figures in the club give a lot of the credit to Frank Morris, who oversaw the transformation of the club’s coaching structure all those years ago.
At one stage the club went on a run of winning nine Galway minor championships in succession, but for many of those involved, the peak of their underage careers was winning a national John West Féile Peil na nÓg title with the club – and a brief moment after their Croke Park win over Slaughtneil in Croke Park in 2015 illustrated this.
Kieran Fitzgerald was one of the players that won a Division One Féile title – he was part of the team that triumphed in 1995, the club went on take the honours again in 2004 – and the fiercely strong bond he had formed with those players he played with in 1995 still came to the fore.
“It was a huge day for the club, we had chased this title for so long and finally got over the line, and within 20 minutes of the final whistle I’d say we had made sure to take a picture of the five players who were all part of the Féile team” he recalled.
The successful Corofin Féile team from 1995.
“It’s still talked about in the club, among ourselves, and some of that is that the memories you make when you’re young stay with you forever. But then, you sit down and talk football with other people from outside the club, and they talk about winning a Féile title as an achievement that’s in the same realm as an All-Ireland club title, it just shows you the respect there is for what Féile means as a competition to GAA people everywhere”.
Even by Corofin’s standards, that particular vintage was exceptional. They went through all the underage grades in Galway unbeaten, and continued to backbone the senior side and to bring through the Féile winners of 2004.
Fitzgerald, along with two other members of that Féile team, Kieran Comer and Michael Comer, also went on to win an All-Ireland senior title with Galway in 2001. Yet for all their achievements, some of the memories of that weekend in Mayo stand out as among the most formative of them all from that incredible career.
“The previous year we were in the finals down in Meath, so that had sharpened our appetite for it a bit. As Galway supporters, going to Mayo was even more special. It meant we were playing to reach the big day in MacHale Park, where we were used to going for Connacht senior finals to support Galway, and that made it more memorable by itself”.
After coming through the group stages, the quality of opposition Corofin faced in the semi-final and final gave some indication of the standard of footballer that was involved. A St. Brigid’s team featuring future Dublin footballers Barry Cahill, Declan O’Mahony and Declan Lally lined up against Corofin in the last four, before the big day on Sunday when they took on a Benny-Coulter-inspired Mayobridge side.
The Ulster side got out to a fast start, scoring 1-1 in the opening minutes, but a goal from Kieran Comer and three David Hanly points helped Corofin to a 1-8 to 1-2 victory, ushering in incredible celebrations.
Kieran Fitzgerald (centre) is still a key figure for the Corofin senior footballers.
“It’s simple stuff now when you look back, but it was incredible at the time. Bonfires, a reception up on the trailer and the whole parish coming out for it, we got tracksuits and hoodies which were a big deal at the time!” said Fitzgerald.
“Everything about it was so new to us. It was a first national competition, a first time to stay away from home and away from your family, and then to have an ending like that, it’s something I’ll always treasure, that’s for sure.
“We benefited from great coaching in the club from the first time we went down as U-8s, there was so much work going on behind the scenes in the club. It was a great foundation and a great start to what it meant when football gets serious” he added.
Kieran Fitzgerald went on to win everything that was to be won for club and county, so his football career could certainly be described as ‘serious’. Yet for all he achieved, that Summer Sunday in Castlebar back in 1995 will always be treasured as his first All-Ireland title.
