The accolade of being the best goalkeeper ever to play for Limerick belongs, without dispute, to Kevin Fitzpatrick.

He has truly been there, done that, and worn the tee-shirt, except that the tee-shirt he wore was an Irish jersey. He played with Limerick from 1960 to 1982 and never contemplated a move despite on one occasion being watched by a top English club manager.

Kevin Fitzgerald, the former Limerick goalkeeper, pictured at the reunion of the 1982 FAI Cup-winning team. Picture: Brendan Gleeson

“That was the day I was playing for the League Of Ireland against England, who had won the World Cup a few months earlier. They gave us a big beating and I need hardly tell you the manager who watched me was not impressed,” he laughed.

A great character, on and off the field, Kevin jokes that he roared so much at his defenders that he could be heard by people coming up William Street. “When I die there will be a quietness over the city,” he laughed.

But he is one of only two Limerick players to have won two FAI Cup medals and a League championship; Joe O’Mahoney being the other. He played many times in European competitions and was in goal against such teams as Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester United, Preston, Torino, CSKA, and Fulham, in a line-up that included Ray Houghton.

“When away to CSKA they provided about 100 balls for us to train. We often had only the one ball when training at the Markets Field,” he laughed.

From start to finish it was a rollercoaster for Kevin. He talks as enthusiastically of the day Limerick players travelled to Ballyfoey in the back of a jeep (cramped in on top of a mattress), as he does about the great games at Thomond Park and the Markets Field.

It all began when he finished school one afternoon in 1960 and went to the Markets Field to make his debut against Glasgow Celtic. The game finished 3-3 with one of the legends of soccer, Charlie Tully, scoring the only hat-trick of his career when guesting for Limerick against his former club.

Son of Paddy, who owned a restaurant in William Street where Hickeys is now located, and Sara (Birdie), Kevin’s first school was the Model and he then moved to Sexton Street CBS.