1989 - Having almost single-handedly won the Sigerson Cup for UCC as a fresher the year before, Fitzgerald took a buffeting in the '89 tournament when the Cork college faced St Mary's. The Cahirciveen man was left concussed and with neck ligament damage.
1991-1992 - Troubled by groin injuries throughout this period and at one point his Kerry manager of that time, Mickey Ned O'Sullivan, recommended that he should undergo surgery. However, Fitzgerald battled through the injuries, and with the help of a weights programme, came out the other side without going under the knife.
1997 - Our wounded hero did the wounding in this case - albeit in an unfortunate accident. Fitzgerald pulled on a ball in the early stages of the All-Ireland final against Mayo, connecting with his colleague Billy O'Shea, who had to be stretchered off. It left that year's footballer of the year in a rather distraught state afterwards, even with the Sam Maguire in the dressing-room.
1999 - In their opening championship match against Tipperary, Fitzgerald suffered a hamstring injury, but was back for a wrestling match with Ronan McCarthy in the defeat by Cork. In truth, his season had been plagued with problems arising out of a niggling groin injury. In the words of coach John O'Keeffe, "Maurice could hardly put two training sessions together back to back."
1999-2000 - Broke his leg playing for his club St Mary's in October. Put him out for the league campaign, but in recent years he hasn't played that much league football in any case - marriage, kids, travel to training from Cahirciveen and his years on the go requiring him to readjust his priorities. Then, in March of this year in his first comeback match (a challenge match between Kerry and IT Tralee), he re-injured his leg, picking up a hairline fracture of his shinbone. Unable to take a full part in training, he undertook an extensive weight-training programme to compensate. However, the setback was such that he has only put in five weeks of full training with the full Kerry panel before yesterday's match, which he began on the bench. Kerry backroom team were confident that he could be used yesterday for 20 or 25 minutes. As it was, he came on for 10, giving a dig out at centrefield.
