Bord Gáis Energy ambassador Gearóid Hegarty at the launch of Bord Gáis Energy’s The Gift of the GAAB at Croke Park in Dublin. The Gift of the GAAB is a first-of-its-kind talent show that will search Ireland to find the best amateur pundits and give them a platform to showcase their talents. People of all ages and from all parts of the country are encouraged to take part. If you would like to find out more or you know someone who is hurling mad and has The Gift of the GAAB, contact bge@giftofthegaab.ie.
By John Harrington
Gearoid Hegarty admits he was embarrassed to be red-carded in Limerick’s Allianz Hurling League defeat to Galway last February.
The 2020 Hurler of the year was given his marching orders early in the second-half for striking Joseph Cooney.
Fellow Limerick forwards, Seamus Flanagan and Aaron Gillane, were also red-carded during the Allianz League campaign and Hegarty believes some important lessons have been learned.
“Definitely,” said Hegarty at the launch of Bord Gáis Energy’s The Gift of the GAAB at Croke Park
“Talking in my own case, it was stupid. I was embarrassed. It’s a horrible feeling. I’ve never gotten a straight red before, definitely not with Limerick anyway.
“We were in the game at the time and I felt like I was hurling really well at the time and then to be sent off around 45 minutes and have to watch the lads for the last 25 minutes knowing you’re after leaving your team-mates down, knowing you’re after leaving down everyone that’s after coming in to watch the game, my family were there watching it and it’s just awkward. You nearly don’t even want to go home and look them in the eye after doing something so stupid.
“You do take great learnings from these things. Sometimes it’s nice that they happen in the League because it would be much worse if it happened in the coming months.”
Gearoid Hegarty of Limerick is shown a red card by referee Fergal Horgan during the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Group A match between Limerick and Galway at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick.
That red-card against Galway ruled Hegarty out of their subsequent match against Cork when Limerick were well-beaten by nine points.
As they prepare to play the same opponents in the first round of the Munster SHC this Sunday, Hegarty says Limerick have learned a lot not just from that defeat, but also from a sub-par League campaign in general that saw them win just one of five matches.
“We analyse every game,” says Hegarty. “It doesn’t matter that it was Cork, we analyse every game on the Tuesday night after every game. We go in and do a bit of video analysis with Seanie O’Donnell our stats man.
“Yeah, we’ve had a couple of interesting post-match analysis this year in the League. Obviously the League hasn’t been super but I was thinking about it and within the League you’re going from game to game in a very confined period and you don’t have too much time to reflect on it.
“It obviously wasn’t great, we didn’t have the best League ever obviously. But now looking back on it now that we’re gone from the League and looking forward to the Championship I obviously think it was a brilliant League for us because we learned so much.
“You often hear the quote that you learn more from defeat than you do in victory, and the amount of learnings we’ve taken from the last two months or so with obviously a couple of losses thrown in there has been a lot.
“I think we’re in a great place to be honest with you because we have learned so much. Sometimes you do need a couple of losses to get back on the straight and narrow and we’ve learned a lot from the League so hopefully we’re in a good position going forward. It’s always strange at this time of the year because you don’t really know where you are until the real stuff kicks off.”
Hegarty was one of the few Limerick players who reached their usual high standards during the Allianz League campaign and says he feels like he’s ready to make a big impact in the upcoming championship campaign.
“I feel great, yeah,” he says. “Last year going into the Championship I missed a good chunk of the League with a groin injury I got against Galway that kept me out for five or six weeks and I didn’t have too much training going into the Championship last year, only two or three weeks under my belt.
“I’ve had a full pre-season, we’re back since the first week of January and I haven’t missed a training session and feeling really good so I can’t wait to get going.”
