‘I don’t think I’d have lasted’: Matthew Fitzpatrick on role GAA played for Linfield’s star striker
MATTHEW Fitzpatrick insists he could not have become Linfield’s number one striker without his experience of playing Gaelic football.The Blues travel to Taylor’s Avenue on Friday night to take on Carrick Rangers in the Sports Direct Premiership, having won the Bet McLean Cup last Sunday.Linfield are eight points behind league leaders Larne but have not given up hope on the title altogether. And, after news that Kieran Offord is out for the rest of the season, Fitzpatrick will shoulder goalscoring duties and spearhead the attack.It has been a circuitous and unconventional route for the west Belfast man, who follows in the footsteps of goalscoring Linfield greats like Glenn Ferguson, Peter Thompson and Andy Waterworth.After playing for St John’s and Antrim, ‘Fitzy’ switched codes in 2022 to join Coleraine briefly, then Glenavon before signing for the Blues in 2023.When asked if he regrets not switching earlier, the 31-year-old says he has mixed emotions.“I get asked this all the time, you know, and part of me does.“But then I think I wouldn’t have been the same player. I wouldn’t have the physique, I wouldn’t have been the same size, I wouldn’t have been as athletic. “Physically, it definitely helped massively, and I don’t think I’d have had the same mindset. I don’t think I’d have lasted. “Could I have dealt with the pressure? Could I have dealt with what it takes? Maybe not. Maybe the GAA prepared me for it.Matthew Fitzpatrick was a key man for Antrim before switching to soccer. PICTURE: CLIFF DONALDSON “But part of me feels if I had played football a bit earlier, I would have been a bit better. I was really raw when I came in. I hadn’t played football since I was 16 so I went nearly 10 years without playing football.“I slag Kieran [Offord] all the time. I tell him if I’d have been doing finishing training every day in training for the last 10 years I’d be far better than him.“I went to Glenavon, had three years there and I learned by playing. Gary Hamilton was very good to me. The best coaching thing he ever did for me was just let me play every week. I had some stinkers and he didn’t take me off, he kept believing in me. “I was able to improve and then I came here obviously to a full-time setting where I’m training every day. I feel when I get involved in something I learn quickly and I feel like I improve quickly and that’s been the case with football.“I work really, really hard. I believe in myself and I feel like if you do those two things, no matter what it is, you might not get to exactly where you want to be but you’ll get far and that’s what I think has happened to me.”This weekend’s round of fixtures are the last before the league splits in two for the last five games, played against those teams in the same half.Carrick are in seventh place in the league but cannot qualify for the top six as both Dungannon Swifts and Cliftonville are six points ahead.In Friday night’s other game, Larne bid to extend their lead at the top of the table when they travel to Mourneview Park to take on 11th placed Glenavon (7.45pm).The Lurgan Blues, having failed to secure a single point in their opening 11 games, have hit a rich vein of form, picking up three wins from their last four matches to pile the pressure on basement-dwellers Crusaders.
