‘Gaelic was my first sport and David Brady my hero’ – Dave Heffernan hopes Mayo GAA roots can inspire Connacht

For there are some Mayo men who know what it’s like to win an All-Ireland. Not the big piece of tin, perhaps. But in a county defined by perennial pining, what’s seldom is wonderful.

Gaelic football may not be the only sport people for folks in Mayo but for so many it is the first one they turn to.

Connacht hooker Dave Heffernan grew up dreaming of winning Sam before being turned by an oval ball.

He won a Celtic League title that transcended borders with the men from the west in 2016.

If he’d stayed with the O’Neill’s ball, he would still be questing the western seaboard’s sporting grail.

But there was one All-Ireland medal amongst the family when the Heffernans gathered this festive season; 50 years ago, dad Ivan was in goal as the Mayo men defeated Antrim in a replay to win the now defunct U-21 title.

September marked the 50th anniversary of the occasion but they’ve lost a few soldiers in that time; John O’Mahony, even then touted as a four-star officer for the future, the latest to fall this year.

Ballina native Ivan also prospered with another group of famed All-Ireland winners of that mid-70s era, Eugene McGee’s star-studded UCD collective, franking his place in Mayo sporting folklore.

But there was more to follow. And someone else. His father.

The great Ivan Heffernan Snr’s name is so embedded in Ballina RFC lore that they named their pitch after him.

As a player, he backboned the famous league and cup double-winning team alongside Dave Heffernan’s maternal grandfather, Séamus Barrett.

That triumph came in 1951, the year Mayo last lifted Sam.

And so his son would inevitably tread the rugby turf that bore the family name, winning a Junior Cup in 1986 as a formidable back-row forward in the days when referees didn’t whistle and flankers didn’t apologise.

And then when his own son was born, the pattern continued; there may have been rugby in the genes but GAA coursed through the veins.

When Dave was old enough to run, the first passion was the one that absorbed every Ballina boy.

“Look, Gaelic football was my first sport growing up,” says Heffernan, now a 12-year and over 200-cap Connacht veteran, as he eagerly scans a unique New Year resolution.

A personal return to MacHale Park as part of a professional, provincial rugby squad when Connacht entertain Munster in March.

“David Brady was my hero, he only lived down the road from me there and my dad would have played with Liam McHale as well.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was an illustrious underage career! I played centre-back and full-back mainly. I tried to play a little bit in midfield towards the end but mainly centre-back and full-back.

“But I played with Ballina Stephenites up to minor level and I did play in MacHale Park, we won an U-16 county championship there.

“That was my last appearance there so, hopefully, we can get a win the next time we go back there again!

“But yeah, I loved it; on my dad’s side of the family particularly they all played football. They’re all football-mad.

“My uncle [Niall] has coached the Stephenites for the last couple of years, and they’ve won a couple of county championships.

“My dad never would have pushed me down any path, to be honest. He played both sports for most of his life.”

Dave would have his head turned while boarding in Blackrock College but his initial progress was not entirely smooth; he broke his leg just three minutes into a Connacht U-20 bow.

From a sliding door to a slamming door, it seemed but he persisted and, once recovered, seized a place in the Connacht Academy 12 months later.

David Brady during his playing days with Mayo. Photo: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

He had forged his own individual path; no longer a flank-forward, like the Heffernans before him, but a hooker.

“Dad was always my hero growing up, he still is. And that’s probably why I wanted to play for Mayo as well from a young age.

“But there was never any pressure from him in terms of which way, he just kind of said whoever forces you to make the decision, go the opposite way.

“And it kind of did come to a fork in the road where the Gaelic side of things were saying, ‘Look, we need you to make a commitment, one way or the other.’

“And, obviously, with rugby, you’ve got a very short window from underage to academy to try and go pro, so I just went with the rugby at that stage, not knowing what would come of it.”

In every year since 1951, nobody would have contemplated a rugby team darkening the doors of a GAA ground before Mayo would win another senior All-Ireland.

Heffernan’s professional devotion remains Connacht rugby but his personal passions are inextricably entwined with the green and red.

His daily reality is the perennial toil of Irish rugby’s fourth, often fallow, green field attempting to battle against superior forces.

His nightly dreams rarely omit a journey home from Croke Park as All-Ireland champions. Can it happen in his lifetime?

“I hope so! I’ve been to all the finals in the last 15 years or so and look, they’ve been incredible. And, yeah, look, they’ve just fallen short a few times, obviously, but I think we will. I hope so.

“My dad hasn’t seen it yet either, but look, to be a team that’s constantly competing, honestly, at the tail end of the season, it’s something that for us here in Connacht, we always aspire to be in the knockout stages of competitions.

“There’s a lot to be said for that as well but, obviously, the main goal is to try to get Sam Maguire back. We’ll see what happens!”

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