Dean Healy of Wicklow pictured with the Tailteann Cup at the launch of the Tailteann Cup at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Win or lose against Offaly in the Tailteann Cup today, perspective will come easily for Garden County captain, Dean Healy.
For him, sport is a release, and something to be enjoyed regardless of the result.
It should never be a burden or something you attach too much emotional validation to because as Healy knows only too well there are much more important things in life.
Rewind to 2023. It’s the Thursday night before Wicklow play Limerick in the Tailteann Cup and Dean rings his partner Jennifer on the way home from training like he usually does.
He’d decided the Limerick match would be his last for Wicklow, but now he was having second thoughts.
“She was like, ‘just wait till you get home’”, says Healy. “So when I arrived home, she was pregnant and there was an immense joy.”
The following day Jennifer had an appointment in St. Vincent’s hospital to have a lump biopsied. A couple of days after that she received a phone-call that curdled their nascent joy into fear.
“We went from the joy of finding out we’re having another baby to getting that phone-call,” says Healy.
“You know when you’re getting called in that it won’t be good news, they’d give you good news over the phone.
“So a couple of days later we're sitting up in Vincent's and we're basically told that the tests showed that she had Hodgkin's lymphoma and that potentially we would have to terminate the child given how early it was.”
Thankfully, the story has a happy ending. Jennifer had to endure six grueling months of chemotherapy but she and her baby made it through.
Aifric is a happy one-year old and will be at today’s match with her mum and older sister Fídh shouting on her father with all the air in her little lungs.
Dean Healy of Wicklow in action against Cian Brady of Longford during the Leinster GAA Football Senior Championship round one match between Longford and Wicklow at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in Longford. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile.
Healy loves playing for Wicklow and is highly driven to do his best for his county every time he pulls on that jersey, but now you know why he’ll still walk off the field a happy man if things don’t work out against Offaly today.
“I remember spending every second Thursday up in St Vincent's who I can't speak highly enough of just in terms of the treatment that she received from the ward up there,” says Healy.
“When you're sitting there among people, is a loss for Wicklow really that important when you're sitting in among people that they have such a positive outlook on life given the circumstances that they're actually facing? My partner included.
“I think everyone has a story and I think there's almost a stigma that goes with lads speaking about these type of things.
“People think you're strong for breaking tackles in Gaelic football, but what I saw from my partner over the last two years with the situation that she found herself in, still having a little girl to look after...you love someone and then you see what how strong a person can be and it just goes to show…like I'm in awe of her every day to be honest with you.”
Healy is 33 years old now but playing the best football of his life, and he puts this down to the perspective he’s gained from the adversity his family has faced off the pitch.
“What my partner went through just makes you view life differently and it just makes me appreciate her and my family a lot more,” he says.
“It just goes to show that the fortunate position that we're in in terms of being able to get out of the house, park whatever's going on in your life at the door for the two or three hours that you're there and then everything's forgotten about.
“It just makes you greatly appreciate what Gaelic football actually brings to you.
“You're all pushing to make Wicklow better in terms of Gaelic football. I just feel like the last two years for me has been like a free pass in terms of there's no pressure with anything.
“I feel like I've given what I've given and I'll continue to give what I give for as long as my personal circumstances allow.
“I always come back to those personal circumstances in terms of whatever is going on in your life. It's just a different avenue in order to actually express different feelings essentially.”
