Gearoid Hegarty credits his father Ger for his 'important to perform on the big day' mantra

GEAROID Hegarty stands tall yet again is a headline that reads correct on so many levels.

The towering wing forward is now a two-time All-Ireland SHC final Man of the Match winner.

And, across the last three finals he is the top scorer from play – a combined 3-14 with returns of 0-7 (2020), 2-2 (2021) and 1-5 last Sunday.

“I didn’t realise until this morning that I was the top scorer, from play, in the last three finals. That’s a cool little thing - a lovely thing to have said about you,” smiled Hegarty when sitting down with media at the Limerick team hotel in the Clayton, Burlington Road on Monday morning.

“I remember growing up as a youngster and we would be down in the field in St Patricks and my father would always be telling me that it was so important to perform on the big day - the big day was when it counts. I don’t know if it comes from that in terms of all that hard work down in the field well before I came into the Limerick senior panel. He had it always drilled into me that it was so important to perform on the big day,” recalled, Hegarty, who turns 28 in the coming weeks.

Long after the Liam MacCarthy Cup was lofted high in the Hogan Stand, the Limerick team were still on the hallowed turf of Croke Park, taking pictures and enjoying the spoils of their labour.

“They are the moments that you cherish forever because honest to God yesterday was so tough. As tough a game I can remember for a long time or maybe we ever played in. In fairness to them Kilkenny boys we knew coming into the game that it was going to be as physical a game as we had in a long time and it was,” said Hegarty.

And, 2022 wasn’t straightforward.

“I was just thinking that the pre-season we did this year in Rathkeale and the weather was particularly bad and Cairbre was a new S&C coach in this year with new ideas and we were doing new things and just as tough as previous years but different. It never gets easier, it get harder and harder all the time. We obviously had a difficult league and people were writing us off constantly and we knew we were working hard and looking forward to the championship in terms of peaking for the championship and sitting down on the field yesterday, they are the moments you cherish forever because they are so hard to win - obviously we have been on a great run for the last couple of years but you have to take it in and as you get older you realise you may never get there again so you take it all in.”

Of the contest, Hegarty said: “I never felt we were going to lose but I never felt we were in control. Until the ref blew the whistle I was on edge.”

In a game of small margins, Limerick never went behind despite Kilkenny drawing level twice.

“We have worked so hard on the psychology with Caroline over the last couple of years. 100% without her we would not be where we are today. She is an incredible woman and has us so well prepared and versed for everything that is going to come,” stressed the Newcastle West teacher.

And, all without last year’s Hurler of the Year.

“I think it’s incredible what we’ve done without him (Cian Lynch), like. He’s the best hurler in Ireland, in my opinion. So he’s obviously our best player. If you take the best player out of any other team in the country, can they take that loss as well as we did this year? And I’m not so sure can they. I think it is an incredible compliment to the 37 fellas that trained all year. Some of those games we play in training, they are the hardest thing you will ever do. I do be going away from training sometimes thinking ‘I don’t know if I’m able for this any more.’ They are just so hard. I make it my business to go around to the subs and the lads on the extended panel to just thank them, because they have us so well prepared.”