Lack of game time impels Fitzpatrick to quit Kilkenny panel

FIVE-TIME All-Ireland winner James “Cha” Fitzpatrick has admitted the failure to make the Kilkenny hurling team has prompted his retirement aged just 26 – although he hardly disguised his frustration at the lack of playing opportunities this season.

Fitzpatrick had started for Kilkenny at midfield in the 2010 All-Ireland final, which they lost to Tipperary, but couldn’t nail down his starting place this summer as Kilkenny went on to regain the title in convincing fashion, and with that began to ask himself “is the juice worth the squeeze?”

He informed Kilkenny manager Brian Cody of his decision over the weekend, although speaking last night, Fitzpatrick conveyed an air of disappointment that he wasn’t actually being given a proper shot at a starting place.

“No matter what I did in training, no matter how well I played, it just didn’t seem I was going to get a go at all,” he said. “So if I was to go back next year I would find the motivation very hard, because deep down inside, I felt no matter what I did in training, it didn’t seem like I was going to get picked. I could be here again in 12 months’ time in the same situation.”

Fitzpatrick is certainly not the first player to find himself frustrated at the lack of playing opportunities under Cody: in 2003 then captain Charlie Carter quit the panel over what he felt was lack of playing time, and Cody has never been one show to show sentimentality when it comes to team selections.

Now based as a teacher in Dublin, Fitzpatrick also felt the long commute to training, with no reward, added to his frustrations, and admitted he had been contemplating his retirement from the start of the year:

“The season just gone I suppose was make or break for me. If it didn’t really happen for me I decided I was going to move on. Unfortunately it didn’t work for me, personally, but it was still a great year for Kilkenny.

“But it is a huge level of commitment, travelling up and down (from Dublin). At the end of all that you’d like to be rewarded for your efforts, and the only way you can rewarded is playing. But it is so competitive at the top level. It just shows the strength in the squad. So much goes into it, you have to take stock at the end of the year, and ask yourself is the juice worth the squeeze.

“I suppose one of the things against me was my lack of speed. I remember during the year doing drills with Michael Fennelly, Michael Rice, and the lads were just powerhouses, testing me for every step.

“For every stride Michael Fennelly takes I’m taking two or three. Obviously I have great vision and hurling on the pitch, but the way the game has gone it’s just huge, huge fitness levels and speed, and that’s one area that’s come against me.”

Fitzpatrick captained Kilkenny to their 2008 All-Ireland success, and also won an All-Ireland with his club Ballyhale Shamrocks, but even at age 26 is adamant his intercounty is career is over – and has already made plans to go travelling next summer.

“As a young player coming in, at 19 or 20, I had no problems serving my time on the bench, especially with some of the older lads there. So I suppose I’ve been on both sides of the fence, but there’s really only one side to be on. So I’ve drawn a line in the sand.

“I’ve been involved with the Kilkenny senior team for eight years now, and won five All-Ireland medals. It’s been a wonderful journey. I suppose I was almost spoilt for success.”