{"id":527055,"date":"2026-06-09T22:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T22:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/527055\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T22:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T22:59:14","slug":"how-love-island-allowed-sean-fitzgerald-to-help-his-soccer-club-win-memorable-cup-final-in-galway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/527055\/","title":{"rendered":"How Love Island Allowed S\u00e9an Fitzgerald To Help His Soccer Club Win Memorable Cup Final In Galway"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a week since S\u00e9an Fitzgerald made his debut on Love Island.<\/p>\n

After a lot of social media discourse about his audition video<\/a>, Fitzy has been a massive success on the programme and he’s proven himself to be a fan-favourite. Female viewers have praised him for raising many ‘green flags’<\/a> and he’s currently bookies’ favourite to win top male.<\/p>\n

Much has been written about Fitzgerald\u2019s GAA background, and it is really incredible that at the height of the GAA Championship, Galway’s starting fullback in the 2024 All-Ireland final is currently featuring on the UK\u2019s biggest reality show.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s less-well-known that Fitzgerald is an avid soccer player with Bearna Na Forbacha Aontaithe, aka Barna-Furbo United. The Galway club are based in one of most picturesque parts of the country and have enjoyed lots of success in recent years as they celebrate their 30th birthday. Fitzgerald is involved with the senior team outside of his intercounty GAA commitments but his last sporting feat before leaving Ireland for the Casa del Amor was a substitute appearance for Barna-Furbo in the Jack Lillis Cup final, which Fitzgerald\u2019s team won in penalties at Eamonn Deacy Park last month.<\/p>\n

We recently spoke to Steve Delaney – who is Fitzgerald\u2019s soccer manager\u00a0 – about Fitzgerald\u2019s abilities as a soccer player, his serendipitous return for the Jack Lillis final and the advice he gave Fitzy before he departed for Love Island.<\/p>\n

<\/blockquote>\n

Balls: What\u2019s Fitzy like as a soccer player? What\u2019s he like in the dressing room?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Steve Delaney:<\/strong> “At underage level, sort of 12 years and above, they had him as a centre-back, more in keeping probably with what he does through with the GAA at the moment.<\/p>\n

“But when I took over the team and spoke to him, one of the first things he said to me is, \u2018Gaffer, I don’t really want to play centre-back\u2019. And I said to him, \u2018I don’t see you as a centre-back\u2019. It\u2019s because of his raw power, his fitness. He’s an outstanding athlete. He’s probably one of the fittest players I’ve ever worked with, both in the UK and over in Ireland. So we just use his explosive pace and his power further up the field. So generally he’ll play either on the right wing or as a number eight, we sort of set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation and he might play in the eight on the right wing.<\/p>\n

\n Recommended\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

“He’s not a huge extrovert. He’s incredibly professional when it comes to his sport. He’s incredibly dedicated. He is a leader in the dressing room, but not a shouter. He’s not a Roy Keane type, he’ll say what he needs to say in a quiet and well-delivered fashion. And then ultimately does try to lead on the pitch. Like I said earlier, he is an outstanding athlete. What he gives to our team, particularly given the fact that he is obviously on the Galway panel and there’s a lot of responsibility around that, you know, we’re very privileged to have him with us. He’s very passionate about soccer and has been since a young age. And the time and the commitment he gives to us, particularly for me as a manager, is outstanding. If you had 11 players like him, you’d be doing very well every week.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nBalls: What was the conversation that you had like about heading off to join Love Island?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SD:<\/strong> “He contacted me a few weeks ago. The way he generally works with us is he’ll come in on preseason, He’ll play and train with us, generally up until about Christmas time, which is when when he has to dive into the GAA with Galway and the commitments of preseason with them. So generally we see him fully committed with us up until Christmas time. But then he’ll be there on his weekends off, watching the games.<\/p>\n

“Traveling down from Dublin to Galway is a hell of a journey on his free weekends just to watch our fixtures, which is fantastic for the lads. He just wants to feel involved and part of it. But he rang me maybe about a month ago and just said to me, \u2018look, there’s this opportunity\u2019. He told me he was going in, you know, it was all confirmed at the time and asked me obviously not to reveal anything to anyone, but made me aware that he was going to be released by Galway and because of that, it would actually allow him to play with us in the Jack Lillis Cup Final. Galway were releasing him on the Sunday and our fixture was on the Tuesday evening.”<\/p>\n

Balls: Who were you playing in the final?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SD:<\/strong> “We would have played essentially what they call the Connemara Classico against Cois Fharraige, a Connemara-based, Gaeltacht team, not too far down the road from us. We have a friendly rivalry, they\u2019re a good team. We know a lot of the lads that play within their squad. It was an entertaining encounter that went to extra time and penalties. They equalised with the last kick of extra time to take it to penalties. It was an interesting encounter.<\/p>\n

“The previous year when we’d got to the Cup Final, he obviously couldn’t play due to his Galway commitments. He had actually flown back from New York after the fixture [vs New York in 2025] and drove straight down to Galway to sit and watch our fixture and then drove straight back up to Dublin with literally no sleep.<\/p>\n

“So that’s the level of commitment and I remember at the time having a conversation saying \u2018you know, I bet you’d love to be involved in this\u2019 and he said to me I \u2018yeah he said I really wish I could but you know it is what it is\u2019, so when he was available then it gave me a bit of a decision to make as to whether we should have him involved obviously he hadn’t been around with the squad training and playing since sort of beginning of January so we sat down I had a long chat with him about it. We chatted about the opportunity, the pros and cons for him going into Love Island. I confess I know very little about it. It wasn’t a show I’ve ever watched. So a lot of it was new to me when he was explaining it. and ultimately, look, Fitzy is a level-headed guy. He knows his own mind. All I sort of did was give him a little bit of advice and say, look, \u2018we’ll always be here for you\u2019. I wish you the best of luck and we will include you in the squad for the Cup final.<\/p>\n

And yeah, and he came on for the 30 minutes of extra time and was due to take the fifth penalty, but didn’t have to didn’t have to have take on that responsibility like Gabriel did [in the Champions League final]<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nBalls: Are all the team behind Fitzy on Love Island?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SD: “Like I said earlier, it’s not something I’ve watched. His teammates have been incredibly supportive of him since they found out there were a lot of rumours flying around.<\/p>\n

“There was a lot of excitement within the squad and within the community in general. I think you can only take the positives out of it. It’s good for him. Obviously he understands the opportunities that might come from being on it and it’s something he really wanted to pursue with eager interest and I think everybody has wished him all the best.<\/p>\n

“From my perspective, the last message I sent to him before he travelled over there was, \u2018have a good time, don’t pay attention to any of the haters and we hopefully see him for preseason\u2019 but let’s see. He might be moving on to pastures new.<\/p>\n