Brian Barry
GAA Editor @BrianGBarry
Michael Fitzsimons on why he is not chasing personal glory, Dublin's defeat to Kerry and jiu-jitsu training in SBG
Dublin footballer Michael Fitzsimons outlines why personal accolades are no motivation for him, details how he trained with John Kavanagh in SBG last year during the off-season to stay fit, and reflects on the All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kerry
Last Updated: 14/10/22 10:09am
Michael Fitzsimons is one of 12 players with the distinction of winning eight All-Ireland senior football medals.
However, a triumph in 2023 could see himself and James McCarthy move beyond that host of Kerry legends and former Dublin team-mates.
But the Cuala man would take little notice of the personal honour of becoming the most successful ever intercounty footballer alongside McCarthy.
"I try not to dwell on any of that stuff," he said.
"You kind of just want to focus on what you're trying to achieve next. You kind of let your parents and your family enjoy that aspect of it.
"I think you dwell on it more after you finish. There's no benefit in dwelling on stuff like that at this moment in time. Like you will immediately after games and stuff like that and you'll enjoy it, you'll celebrate it, but when you're going back to the next season you're not thinking about the last season, 'Oh we did great there'.
"When you're playing long enough, you just get into trying to chase improvements in performance.
"The big enjoyment in team sport for me, apart from meeting people and the camaraderie that goes with it, is everyone coming together to try and build on and work on stuff and then actually execute it in a game. That's the big challenge.
"When you see someone who has put in so much work before training doing extras, to get something that comes off on the pitch or a group of you, that's the real enjoyment, so I think dwelling on stuff in the past, it just doesn't [factor].
"The game constantly evolves. One of the things that, if you're in any way stagnant thinking, 'We did this thing last year and it was great, we should keep doing it', it doesn't work that way so that's why you get into the habit of, not forgetting it, but not dwelling on it."
For now, he is recharging his batteries, although with one eye on the Dalkey club's upcoming league relegation play-off against Ballinteer.
But regardless of whether it is the off-season, he remains focused on staying in prime shape.
"You get into the habit of keeping fit and healthy," he added.
"You enjoy staying fit, running, in the gym and balancing it with other stuff like study, relationships or whatever, your family. I think I'd be doing that anyway whether I was playing football or not playing football. As a kid I just loved sports and keeping healthy."
With Gaelic football commitments somewhat lower following Cuala's exit from the Dublin SFC, he has looked to other outlets for the off-season.
"I play a bit of five-a-side, and last year we did a bit of jiu-jitsu with John Kavanagh, which was a bit of craic which was very nice of him he took a few us in and we joined their classes," he said.
"[With the] Dublin lads, out in the SBG (Straight Blast Gym). It was something different and it keeps you fresh. When you're playing football it's like anything, it's the exercise or the same thing over and over again, you can get a little bit burnt out with it.
"But when you play a different sport or a different activity it gives you a different perspective and you can bring something back to football."
Despite the disappointment of back-to-back All-Ireland semi-final defeats, the motivation is undiminished.
"It's been the same every year, nothing changes too much," he stated.
"Each year you go out you are there to win it, which is very broad and cliched, but I don't think it changes. When you lose you are obviously frustrated for the immediate aftermath and you look back and review it and think what you could have done.
"But in our case you look back at the previous years when you got over the line and are thankful that we haven't lost that many games by a point, we've been on the right side of most of them. And by the time you get back in January it's not - bar maybe playing a team you lost to maybe is a little bit more motivated - it doesn't make a huge difference."
Fine margins
In a game of inches, a defender of Fitzsimons' quality could be excused for minutely analysing narrow defeats like this year's loss to Kerry.
But reflecting on such moments have little benefit, he finds.
"There's no point in ruminating over it for three months, you just think 'If I ever get the chance do it again what will I do next time?'. So there are so many little moments.
"Like you think of Mayo and all those games they've played against us, they have obviously beaten us since then and fair play to them. But back then it was so tough on them, those tiny moments, you don't think of that when you win a game, it just completely papers over the cracks of those little things 'oh I failed there' or 'that could have cost us' it's just a fleeting thought. As you get more experienced you don't dwell on them."
Although Kerry edged that contest with Sean O'Shea's late free, the 34-year-old knows these things can balance themselves out over the course of a career.
"We've been on the other end of a few of those frees," he said.
"Fair play to him for putting it over. It was a great free, a phenomenal free. They're the games you want to play in anyway, the atmosphere is incredible, it goes down to the wire against a tough team."
