‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick
My life was on hold so I have no regrets over quitting when I did
‘It’s been almost a century since we last achieved this feat [three All-Ireland titles in-a-row]. In 1934 it couldn’t be done. In 1976 it couldn’t be done. In 1984 it couldn’t be done. In 1994 it couldn’t be done in. In 2004 it couldn’t be done. In 2008 it has been done and by God it’s been done well.’ – James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick’s speech as Kilkenny captain after accepting the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 2008.
HE WALKS in to the bar of the Eden House in Rathfarnham, just a short hop from where he is teaching at St Olaf’s primary school, and the first instinct is to check how the 10 years have sat with him.
Retired at 26, with 13 All-Ireland medals across the grades to his name, it’s easy to imagine him enjoying his early exit stage left, dining out on former glories and maybe even adding another notch to the belt of his trousers.
Letting himself go — or at least letting himself go and enjoy a full life outside of the game.
The only Kilkenny hurler who moonlighted as a DJ during his early years under Brian Cody, he was the Féile Skills champion at 13 years of age who could make the ball talk. A luminous talent, signposted from afar, who captained Kilkenny to the three-ina-row aged 23 and then confirmed his status as a free spirit by announcing his retirement in November 2011 in his mid-20s.
Instead, it’s as if time stood still. He smiles at the slant on the question famously thrown at George Best by the hotel waiter as he delivered room service to the Manchester United playboy, sipping champagne with a Miss World for company. So, after winning almost every honour in the game, where did it all go wrong to retire at such an early age?
‘When we won the four-in-arow with Kilkenny, I’d achieved everything I wanted to achieve. I always said I wanted to win one and it just kept going and kept going — we got on a great run and four years later we had the four-in-a-row.
‘After that, it was difficult to get the motivation. I mean, what more is there to achieve? That’s the way I was looking at it.
‘Afterwards, when I finished up, I really admired the likes of Henry Shefflin, still going at it with the same drive. Jackie Tyrrell, JJ Delaney, Tommy [Walsh]. I just questioned, “Where do they get their drive from?”’
For him, it was simple. ‘The buzz, the adrenaline, went. It’s like climbing a mountain. You climb Mount Everest once… do it three or four times and that’s it. I just didn’t want to keep doing it.
‘I remember my last year in there, 2011, I was flying in training but wasn’t getting a game, was being overlooked. I just felt “What’s the point? Putting your life on hold for this? I’ve won everything I wanted to win .” Yeah, the adrenaline went.
‘I was actually very relieved when I retired. Never any regret. Didn’t miss it at all.
‘Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate how lucky I was, with that great team. There are loads of other players in other counties, they’re putting in the same effort. What they’d give for one All-Ireland. So I’m not complacent about any success.’ Funny how life goes. For someone who loved a night out like as a young man, he’s a teetotaller now. He’s lean and fit and looks like he could still prosper at Parnell Park in this afternoon’s Leinster round-robin first round as Kilkenny take on Dublin. Golf is his thing now. Plays off a handicap of just three. Is a member of Mount Juliet and won Golfer of the Year in 2017. He’s like hurling’s answer to Benjamin Button, doing things in reverse. ‘That’s it!’ he says laughing. ‘I’ve kinda done things a bit a***ways to be honest. I’m now finished hurling and I don’t drink anymore — I gave it up. Happened to get away with it as a young lad. The time? It has flown by.’ The past is a foreign country. ‘I’d rarely look back on my hurling career. I genuinely look forward. I’ve never actually sat down and looked at a game I’ve played.’
Even the 2008 final, and the perfect storm Kilkenny whipped up against Waterford? ‘No. if it was on The Sunday Game or in the hotel, that was it.’
The reason he’s chatting is to gain publicity for a fund-raising initiative at his club, Ballyhale Shamrocks, who are stitched in to the tapestry of Kilkenny GAA. Of the 36 titles in the roll of honour, ‘Cha’ was one of nine Ballyhale men to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup. His grandfather John was an All-Ireland winner too, back in 1933.
It’s just, for him, there was always more to life than hurling. ‘I always said, “Whenever the enjoyment goes, I’m out”. Inter-county level, it’s so tough. I remember going into some training sessions and you’re absolutely dreading it. Every training session is like a full-on Championship match. You could be marking Noel Hickey, JJ Delaney, Tommy Walsh — if you’re not on your game you could be wiped out. To hold on to your position and perform every time. A struggle.
‘The winter months were tough but then some summer’s evening, crowd inside, ball flying, good ground, it was very enjoyable. When you are winning All-Irelands it makes it all worthwhile. That’s why I feel for hurlers in lower grade counties.
For the three-in-a-row between 2006 and 2008, his sweet ballstriking and gilded wristwork was the perfect foil to his allaction partner Derek Lyng, before Cody shuffled his deck the following year as Kilkenny went one step further.
‘Inter-county, while we won a lot, it was unbelievably serious. Business-like. If you lose a match then, you’d have lads crying over it. Like someone was killed; like a funeral.
‘I was always in to different things. I felt a bit pigeon-holed with the hurling, a bit limited and restricted in what I could experience in life. In the end, I didn’t like that. I didn’t like to be told, “This is what you’re doing and that’s it”.’
So he opted out. Continued to hurl away with the club until he enjoyed one final flourish last year, lured back to play a bit of junior. Shot 1-11 in a championship semi-final against O’Loughlins, in what he insists is his last match.
Still just 33 — the same age Shefflin was crowned Hurler of the Year — is there any part of him wished he’d done it a different way?
‘I wouldn’t change a thing. My goal was always to play with Kilkenny at senior level and hopefully win one All-Ireland. I would have been completely happy with that.’
‘I ADMIRED JJ AND HENRY, STILL GOING AT IT WITH THE SAME DRIVE’