BY KIERAN McCARTHY
THERE was a time in her sporting journey when Christine Fitzgerald juggled football and rowing. Not exactly two sports that complement each other, but skills learned in one have become handy in the other.
In her days with Skibbereen Rowing Club, and rowing was her first love through her teens, head coach Dominic Casey’s teachings resonated, one being to ‘control the controllables’.
Now, as the goalkeeper of the O’Donovan Rossa football team that will contest an All-Ireland junior club football final this Sunday in Parnell Park, Dublin, a similar mantra is serving Christine and her team-mates well.
‘We treat each game the same, James (O’Donovan, Skibb’s manager) always says that. We can’t control the crowd, we can’t control the ref, we can’t control the other team and what they do, all we can do is do our best and follow the tactics that we need to win the game,’ the Skibb number one says.
Controlling the controllables on the water saw Christine rise to prominence with her local rowing club, winning 11 ‘pots’ at the Irish Rowing Championships and even represent Ireland on the international stage. The same approach has helped the St Joseph's Girls NS junior infants teacher add to her medal haul this season, as Skibb’s footballers are enjoying the year of their lives.
With her rowing days now well behind her, football has her full focus, and that decision to stay on dry land is paying off.
‘I felt I had achieved what I was going to in rowing so I wanted to do something different,’ she says, and having played football underage, the return to GAA pitch after she finished college felt right.
‘I am loving it at the moment, it’s so much easier when you’re winning and you have that momentum,’ Christine adds – and this team certainly knows how to win. Already this season they have bolstered their medal collection with Cork and Munster junior medals, and only Claremorris stands between the Rossas and All-Ireland glory. And it’s Christine that stands between the Connacht champions and the Skibb goal.
‘I was outfield up until two years ago,’ she explains, ‘the management approached me and asked me if I would play in goal. My knees aren’t the best so I saw the opportunity of making the team in goal whereas I wouldn't have been making it outside any more, because the twisting, turning and speed wasn't there.’
Christine had to learn on the job in 2022, admitting it was terrifying at times, but she feels more confident this season and it’s showing – the Skibb shot-stopper pulled off huge saves in the Munster final and All-Ireland semi-final, and kept a clean sheet in their All-Ireland semi-final win. More of the same on Sunday, please.
‘This season has been unbelievable. It is beyond all our expectations. At the start of the year our aim was to get to the county final, which is where we were last year (2022), so to win that was great. Since then it’s been one game at a time,’ she says, and as the team has improved, the bond between the players has grown even stronger.
‘We went to the Celtic Ross Hotel for a recovery session after the All-Ireland semi-final, and we had great fun over there. We went for food after, we have done a whole lot of things together, and everyone is so close with each other; it’s a really tight group,’ Christine says, and the hope is their approach that has worked so well this season will help them pass their biggest test yet on Sunday.
