Mick Fitzgibbon From All Blacks in Dunedin to St Senans in Askeaton

If ever asked in a table quiz who is the only man to represent Ireland against the All Blacks in New Zealand and collect a West Junior Football medal in the same year, quickly scribble down Mick Fitzgibbon, safe in the knowledge of attaining full marks.

1992 was a dark season for Irish Rugby who had enjoyed a year previously had run Australia agonisingly close in that famous Landsdown Road World Cup 1/4 Final ending up on the wrong side of a 19-18 scoreline.

Fitzgibbon was not part of that World Cup squad but was called into the Irish ranks for the following 5 Nations campaign that would see Ireland pick up the Wooden Spoon with 4 defeats on the trot.

In 1992, Fitzgibbon was part of an Irish team who ran the mighty All-Blacks very close in the their back yard before eventually succumbing to a 24-21 defeat in Carisbrook, Dunedin when a first elusive victory looked in sight.

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A couple of months later, Fitzgibbon would go some way to cancelling out the painful memory of close call with the All Blacks as he helped Ballysteen to claim the West Limerick Junior Football title against neighbours St Senans.

The road from Dunedin to Ballysteen wasn’t the most travelled but Fitzgibbon remembers a simpler time, prior to the professional games we see today, one where inter-sporting careers were common.

“I suppose it wasn’t unusual to play both at the time. I played a lot of rugby, first in the Junior cup and then a couple of years at Senior Cup (with Rockwell). I came back to Limerick then and played with Endas for a year and played football at home. We had a relatively successful team, we lost the county final one year but we were always competitive.

“And even when I was playing Senior Cup, Football was my number one sport. I played a couple of years minor with the county but at that stage I realised that playing football in Limerick was always going to be an uphill battle. At the same time, Ireland and Munster were becoming more successful so from then on I began to concentrate on the Rugby more.

“Anyways that year (1992) I came home injured and I hadn’t trained for football due to the tour down to New Zealand and the fact that I had been playing international. I hadn’t played for Dunhill GAA and I moved back to Limerick to work in the Jewellery Factory in Rathkeale. So it gave me the opportunity to play football at home once again.”

The Irish international’s return home came at an opportunistic time for Ballysteen with an injury to a key man paving the way for Fitzgibbon.

“Ballysteen were the first to call to the door. They had just formed up again, or broken away from Askeaton as a stand alone club again. As I lived just up from the Ballysteen Road, it was perfectly legit that I could play for them.

“They had lost their talisman Ray Neville in the semi-final and I suppose I came in more as a confidence boost than anything, a physical presence more than anything to help them out on the day.

“From what I remember of the match, before I saw it again on Sporting Limerick recently, very little. I certainly don’t remember missing a chance on goal, 12 yards out, but that’s probably my mind putting it out of my head!

“It was great for Ballysteen, for such a small community down there. To be able to form a team and go out and win a West Championship in their first year was just fantastic. It obviously meant a lot to them and you could see that from the guys on the pitch. He size of the crowd there was just incredible for a Junior match.”

Indeed that match acted as another chapter in the ongoing rivalry between Ballysteen and Askeaton which continued throughout the second half of the 20^th century. Despite sharing a parish in west Limerick, the complicated relationship between the pair was fierce and saw a number of reunions and splits.

With numbers a premium for both clubs, the teams were still hugely successful. Ballysteen recorded their first and only County Senior Football Championship win in 1964. Askeaton would take over the running of football locally the following year where they accounted for the 1965 Championship. The same group of players would win the ’66 championship giving the parish an incredible three-in-a-row.

The clubs would split in the late ‘70s and would contest the 1980 west senior final where Askeaton won convincingly after a replay. The rivalry in the 80’s was so intense that Ballysteen received a lengthy ban after one such game between the sides. After the suspension was lifted the two joined forces once more in 1987.

The union would only last five years and paved the way for Fitzgibbon and co to earn a Junior title in their first year. However, Fitzgibbon laments the time the sides spent apart with a huge opportunity to add to their championship collections lost.

“There was always a bit of tension between the two you know. Even in the 60’s when they were winning county championships. Askeaton won it one year and Ballysteen won it another, there was just always that bit of something between the two. And you know I remember having some great battles against Ballysteen with Askeaton when I was younger.

“We possibly left a couple of county championships behind. Maybe if we had a couple of Moran’s when at the time you had the likes of the Ivess, Barrett Tom Connell’, Finty Ryan, Enda McDaid and more. There were superb players but we couldn’t get them all on the one team unfortunately.”

While the highs of Ballysteen’s maiden title was the highlight of the year, it could have been so different for Fitzgibbon and Ireland had they gotten over the line against the All-Blacks. Heading to New Zealand with a depleted squad, little was expected of the Irish squad, which worked in their favour according to Fitzgibbon.

The desire to overcome the odds, saw Ireland into a 12-0 lead against the kingpins of the rugby landscape. However, the Southern Hemisphere side would reel them in to escape with victory. It would be a further 24 years when Ireland eventually beat the All-Blacks in the Soldiers Field.

Fitzgibbon speaks with immense pride recalling that game on a trip that would ultimately fizzle out for the rundown squad.

“That year in 1992, we went to New Zealand with a very weakened squad. There were a couple of key guys who had retired and more who weren’t available for the trip. We went out there more as a development team than anything and it took some time to get together. And it was tough down there.

“But we went out with something to prove that day. And I think we were quite unlucky on the day. We shipped a couple of injuries and it just upset the rhythm we had going. We caught them on the hop but we went out a week later with more injuries and we just fell away from the exhausting trip.”

The sporting landscape during Fitzgibbon’s time was largely different with the Limerick?? Man calling it quits shortly before professionalism took over in Rugby. That professionalism has extended into the GAA with the players elite in all aspects outside of the paycheck.

Yet, the growth of sport has come with some setbacks with crowd attendances dwindling year on year across sports, something Fitzgibbon spoke about.

“That wasn’t just the case for the GAA at the time. If you had two Limerick teams playing in the AIL, you were looking at 10,000 supporters, if not more so there were a lot bigger attendances at matches across all sports. People are not as involved in their local teams as they used to be. It’s a sign of the times really.”

Hopefully, the absence of sport will see the appetite for live games return whenever we get the green light to go again.

However, it’s highly unlikely we will see the likes of Fitzgibbon’s kind again.