Hurling great reflects on career between the posts

Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon

IF the All-Stars awards had run in the 1960s, then former Liam Mellows and Galway goalkeeper Jimmy Hegarty would surely have been a shoo-in. Agile, courageous and a hand on him that could have been made of Velcro, Hegarty had it all.

In one such game against Limerick in the 1962 Munster championship, Hegarty’s prowess was praised as “one of the greatest individual displays of hurling goalkeeping ever given”. Galway lost the game 2-13 to 2-7 but it could have been far worse given that the Treaty County owned the game.

That performance has lived long in the memory of older Gaels. So much so, the details of it were recounted 25 years later in a championship match programme which today is framed and perched high in the sitting-room of the Hegarty household in Renmore.

The tribute noted: “Hegarty’s outstanding reflexes saw him block balls from all angles while his agility, anticipation and steely courage saw him ‘cut-off’ numerous other dangerous raids.” It was high praise indeed.

Later this Spring, Hegarty turns 75 but you would not think it. The air must have been better back in his playing days because he still looks as if he could stand guard between the posts for club and county. Then again, he did mind net at senior club level for 26 years. A feat recognised by his beloved Mellows.

In fine fettle, Hegarty, armed with a cuppa provided by his wife Maura, chats about the game back in his era and of his two heroes, goalkeeping greats Tony Reddan and the late Sean Duggan. He describes Reddan, who he only got to know in later years, as “the nicest man you could meet”. For Duggan, he tells a special anecdote.

Having grown up in Woodquay – the building where Conboy’s Electrical is now based was the home place – he would often sit on the step outside waiting for the silhouette of a man to appear in the distance.

“My greatest pleasure at the weekends was to sit down on that step and wait to see the legend that was Sean Duggan coming down training. I would go into school then and tell everyone about it, not thinking I would play for the same club, the same county or even be compared with him. He was a wonderful man.”

Although Reddan enjoyed more success, winning three All-Irelands upon his move to Tipperary, Hegarty notes there was nothing between his two heroes in terms of ability. Kilkenny’s Ollie Walsh is another he highlights as another super exponent. Great men all in far different times.

In those days, there was little protection for goalkeepers unless you had Hell’s Kitchen – as Hegarty brands the Tipperary defence of his time – in front of you. Also, the ball was heavier and netminders had hurls with smaller bosses. “The boss on the hurl now, you would roof The Vatican with it,” he exclaims.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.