A member of the
Clan na Gael GAA club in Dundalk, Fitzpatrick won a
Leinster Under-21 championship medal with
Louth in 1981. He had a successful club career with Clan na Gael, winning five
Louth SFC titles, nine
Senior Football Leagues and six
ACC Cup medals. He was also a member of the
Dundalk F.C. reserve side that won the 1982–1983
League of Ireland B Division. Fitzpatrick was appointed the manager of
Louth in November 2009, succeeding
Eamonn McEneaney, the former
Monaghan footballer and manager. In his first season in charge of Louth, the team reached their first Leinster final in 50 years. The
2010 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final saw them compete against
Meath. Louth almost won but for a controversial goal by
Joe Sheridan late in the game. Louth subsequently entered the
2010 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship through the "back door". However, the team lost heavily to
Dublin in their next game, thus ending the county's 2010 championship season. In the 2011 season, Louth qualified for the
Division 3 League Final where they faced
Westmeath. Louth won on a scoreline of 1–15 to 0–13. Fitzpatrick quit in 2012 after three years. He went on to become the chairperson of the Louth County Board, and was in this role when
Mickey Harte was appointed Louth manager in 2020, also with the successful application for planning for a new stadium for Louth GAA. ==Political career==