There were no raucous celebrations in the Dublin dressing room after their romp against Louth on Saturday, but a big roar went up all the same.
It was for Michael Fitzsimons after he scored his very first point for Dublin on his 100th appearance for the county.
“First shot and first point, yeah,” Fitzsimons smiled. “One hundred percent record!
“There’s definitely a novelty to it. I’ve probably only been in position once or twice, one of them being the 2016 final where I tried to lay it off – unsuccessfully! – and nearly cost us. I wouldn’t even score at training.”
Fitzsimons admitted his inability to raise a flag while playing for Dublin was a source of much
ribbing from his team-mates.
He laughed: “Oh yeah, they all found it very funny. But that’s not my side of my game – I’m more defensive, and obviously help in transitioning out of defence, but I wouldn’t be looking to get on the end of scores.”
The Cuala man wasn’t even aware of reaching the century of appearances until county secretary John Costello pointed it out to him afterwards though it’s something he reflects on with pride.
Fitzsimons said: “Yeah, it is one of those things. It’s a cliche, you don’t take count of it and you probably don’t appreciate it when you’re doing it.
“But, yeah, when I came on and started in 2010, your focus is just to get a few games – and then it spirals out of control.
“There’s lulls where you don’t know whether you’ll keep going, and there’s times when you really want to keep going.”
His success with Dublin is all the more remarkable for the fact that he didn’t represent the county at underage level.
Fitzsimons said: “When you meet some of your old mentors you think back how they helped you along the way.
“I started in Confey and then when we got up to Dublin, bringing me to Cuala and even the school that I was in.
“That’s when you think about it, when you’re chatting to them.
“Maybe after some successes when you get a text from them and you’re writing back and thanking them and you’re thinking they contributed a huge amount.”
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