Damien Fitzhenry

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Damien Fitzhenry

Personal information
Sport	Hurling
Full name	Damien Fitzhenry
Date of Birth	1974
Place of birth	Enniscorthy, County Wexford
Club information
Club	Duffry Rovers
Position	Goalkeeper
Club(s)*
Club	Years	Apps (scores)
Inter County
County	Wexford
Position	Goalkeeper
Inter County(ies)**
County	Years	Apps (scores)
Wexford	1993-
Inter County Titles
Leinster Titles	3
All-Ireland	1
All-Stars	2
* club appearances and scores correct as of . **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of .

Damien Fitzhenry (born 1974) is an Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling with his local club Duffry Rovers and with the Wexford senior inter-county team. He is the current goalkeeper on both teams and is widely regarded as one of the best in the current game.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Playing career 2.1 Club 2.2 Inter-county 3 Trivia 4 Teams 5 References

[edit] Early life

Damien Fitzhenry was born just outside Enniscorthy, County Wexford in 1974. The youngest of 15 children, he was born into a family that was very active in Gaelic Games. While most of his brothers had successful careers at the game of Gaelic football, Fitzhenry has become one of the most famous faces in the world of inter-county hurling.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Club

Fitzhenry, along with his brother Mark, Tom, Seamus, John, Martin, Gerard, Noel, Paddy and Fran, all played club hurling and football with the Duffry Rovers club near Enniscorthy. He joined the senior ranks of the club in the early 1990s and has shared in some of the clubs most recent county titles in football. Three of Fitzhenry’s sisters, Tina, Mary and Ann, have also played camogie with Duffry Rovers.

[edit] Inter-county

Fitzhenry first came to prominence in the early 1990s when he joined the Wexford minor hurling panel. He quickly moved onto the under-21 panel, however, he had little success at either of these two grades. In 1993 Fitzhenry made his senior debut in the National Hurling League quarter-final against Westmeath. Wexford went on to reach the National League final that year, however, they were beaten by Cork following two replays. For the next few seasons Wexford played second fiddle to Offaly in the Leinster championship, however, in 1996 Fitzhenry’s side bridged a nineteen year gap when Wexford won their first Leinster title since 1977. In the subsequent All-Ireland final Fitzhenry had a great game and won his first All-Ireland medal.

In 1997 Fitzhenry won his second Leinster medal, however, Wexford were later defeated by beaten Munster finalists Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final. In spite of this Fizthenry was still recognized as the best goalkeeper in the country and he was presented with an All-Star award at the end of the championship. The next few years proved difficult as Wexford faced a resurgent Kilkenny team in the Leinster championship. It took until 2004 for Wexford to finally beat Kilkenny and Fitzhenry claimed a third Leinster title. His side were later defeated by Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final, however, Fitzhenry collected his second All-Star award. Since then hehas had no further success with his native county.

[edit] Trivia

Fitzhenry is a superstitious hurler and doesn’t shave for three days before a big championship game.

[edit] Teams

	Wexford - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1996
1 D. Fitzhenry | 2 C. Kehoe | 3 G. Cushe | 4 J. O'Connor | 5 R. Guiney | 6 L. Dunne | 7 L. O'Gorman | 8 A. Fenlon | 9 G. O'Connor | 10 R. McCarthy | 11 M. Storey (Capt.) | 12 L. Murphy | 13 T. Dempsey | 14 G. Laffan | 15 É. Scallan | Subs: B. Byrne | P. Finn | P. Codd | Manager: L. Griffin

	Wexford Senior Hurling Team 2006
1 D. Fitzhenry | 2 M. Travers | 3 D. O'Connor | 4 K. Rossiter | 5 R. Kehoe | 6 D. Ruth | 7 D. Lyng | 8 E. Quigley | 9 C. Kenny | 10 R. McCarthy | 11 D. Stamp | 12 P.J. Nolan | 13 S. Doyle | 14 R. Jacob | 15 M. Jordan | Manager: S. Murphy

[edit] References

• Christy O'Connor, Last Man Standing: Hurling Goalkeepers, (O'Brien Press, 2005)