Inarticulate, you say?
Maurice fitz is like Eric cantona. Had the ability to carry a whole team and take on so much responsibility.
Who fucking asked you?
He’s still coaching. Below in South Kerry actually.
According to Sid we should have seen dozens of Maurice’s come out of South Kerry. Could it be Sid was wrong?
“Decorated” 
The Fitzophiles are badly rattled here.
Prescient rating
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Great comparison. A talented player who was one of the country’s top players for a period of five years or so, but was at his best against non-top level teams. Retired at 31 when he wasn’t bothered anymore. Also fits nicely into my point about those who rate him the best of all-time having a limited knowledge of the game.
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From Kerry alone I’d rank Colm Cooper, Mikey Sheehy, Pat Spillane, Declan O’Sullivan and John Egan ahead of Fitzgerard.
Of those, only Cooper had anything remotely near the mercurial, uncoachable genius of Canavan that you need to be considered in the frame for the GOAT. But Canavan’s mercurial genius is a level above even that of Cooper.
There’s no shame for Maurice here, who is no doubt one of the top six or seven Kerry forwards of all-time, but I think even he’d be a bit embarrassed at some of the claims being made for him on this thread.
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I think while both were very good players their best attributes were actually having the ability and ego to carry team mates.
The 2-in-a-row all ireland finalists were not a top team? Interesting.
What did you see of egan & Sheehy.
Spillane? Ffs.
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You don’t rate Spillane??
No just compared to MF.
He was excellent at what he did. Wonderful athlete and the original roaming hard running half forward. Still was surrounded by emense talent though.
Video technology existed in the 1970s, you know.
Write a strongly worded letter to the selectors who named Sheehy and Spillane on the Teams of the Century and Millennium if you feel they weren’t great players.
Hmmmm…
I never liked some of Canavan’s “attributes”. He was by times a nasty little guy, petulant and fond of the oul’ back-stab with the heel while awaiting a free-in. Seamus Quinn took it for a joust or two in Carrick on the early 00’s in a qualifier (Yes Tyrone were in the Qualifiers back then) before correcting his attitude.
There’s no doubt that Canavan was an essential part of Tyrone’s success, but he’s hardly even the greatest Tyrone man in football terms of all time. Jones and McKenna would be ahead of him, much in the way that O’Connell and the myriad of other Kerrymen would be “ahead” of Fitzgerald.
That said, Fitzgerald on his day remains the most accomplished talent that I’ve seen. Beautiful skills delivered with aplomb. Sean Purcell will however remain to me the greatest of all time. Purcell was everything, a chaser back when necessary, a sublime fielder when possession was needed, a foot-passer of expert prercision and a terrific score taker.
I have 40 years on most of ye’ but you can take Purcell to the Bank all day.
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My auld fella would always go on about the jousts Purcell and Paddy Dunne of Laois had back in the Railway Cup games in the 50’s. Jesus he’d nearly write poetry out of them.
This whole conversation is just your typical internet bullshit, it’s entirely subjective, and always will be. You just have to laugh at the effort some fellas go to, each to their own.
Canavan did what he had to do, guys of his stature who would have been as good as he was were prime targets to be roughed up and would have had their carcass torn apart. Canavan knew how to look after himself and protect himself.
He was unbelievably good.
No one said he wasn’t
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