By John Harrington

Retirement from inter-county football with Mayo hasn’t exactly meant a quieter life for Keith Higgins.

In fact, he reckons that 2021 might well have been his busiest year yet in Gaelic Games.

He captained the Mayo hurlers to Nickey Rackard Cup success, winning the Nickey Rackard Player of the Year award for his own considerable efforts, and a manic year on the club front in both hurling and football only ended a couple of weeks ago.

Right now he’s enjoying a well deserved rest before deciding whether to commit to another season of inter-county hurling with Mayo.

“I had a conversation with Derek (Mayo hurling manager Derek Walsh) last week because they're looking to get back on the road in the next few weeks, all going well,” Higgins told GAA.ie.

“The League will be starting early next year. I don't know, we'll have to have another conversation over the next week or two and see what the story is.

“I suppose at the moment I've only finished up with the club two weeks ago. We had a good run with football and hurling and were out every weekend after the All-Ireland Final between the two codes so I haven't really had a chance to think about it too much.

“Look, I'll think about it around Christmas and make a decision then about 2022.”

Throughout his 16 seasons as a Mayo footballer, Higgins also played for the county hurlers as much as his hectic schedule would allow.

He was a Mayo hurler before he was a footballer, making his senior debut as 17-year-old, and at that point in his life would have regarded himself as a hurler first and foremost, both in terms of his ability and respective love for the games.

So when he called time on his inter-county football career, he was always going to throw himself fully into hurling for Mayo.

“It was probably something in the back of my mind that when I'd step away from football I'd give the hurling a go,” he says.

“I didn't expect to be made captain for the year but it was good. In a way it kept me busy and meant I wasn't really thinking about the football too much.

“It gave me a different focus, I suppose. When you're used to playing all the time and competing all the time it's great to have something to go back to that keeps you busy. It's all the nicer then when you're contending for silverware.”

Playing football for Mayo has been a really pressurised environment for many years now such is the expectation that goes hand in hand with it.

All the more so, you’d imagine, when you’re a defender like Higgins who for most of his career was given the task of marking the opposition’s best forward.

No surprise then to hear that getting the opportunity to lead the Mayo hurlers to Nickey Rackard Cup success in Croke Park in an attacking role that saw him score five points from play was an enjoyable afternoon’s work for the Ballyhaunis man.

“Yeah, it’s probably a small bit less demanding than running around after some of the top football forwards in the game,” says Higgins.

“As a forward you can obviously decide when and where you make the runs rather than having that dictated by someone else.

“There's also a small bit less pressure when it comes to playing hurling with Mayo than there is with the football, in fairness. So from that point of view you can try and go out and enjoy it a bit more.

“But regardless of whatever competition you're competing in the end goal is always to win it so when you do it's always satisfying.

“After winning the Final there was a great sense of satisfaction climbing the steps to lift the Cup and then being able to sit back in the dressing-room to take it all in.

“It's always good to get that feeling at the end of any campaign.”

The core of this Mayo hurling team has been together for a good few seasons now, and winning the Nickey Rackard Cup was a reward for the considerable effort of both players and management in that time.

“Absolutely,” says Higgins. “I think the majority of those lads have been there the last five, six, or seven years. One of the most pleasing things of it was winning for our management team after the way last year's Final went.

“I'd know Derek a very long time and the other lads involved in the management team for a long time as well. So as much as anything else it was satisfying to win it for them because they've all put in so much work in the background.

“Just because you're playing at a lower level it doesn't mean the level of work is any less than in some of the bigger counties. So just to get that bit of success is very satisfying.”

Mayo probably punch above their weight as a county hurling team considering they have just four senior clubs to draw on, but there’s considerable work going on behind the scenes in the county to grow their playing numbers.

Mayo’s tireless Games Promotion Officer, Adrian Hession, is behind much of it, and the emergence of new clubs at underage level in recent years and at junior level this year suggests Mayo hurling can improve its lot in the medium to long-term future.

“Like lots of other counties where football is the predominant sport you're always going to have pockets of hurling and small groups of people who are very passionate about it and who would do anything to see it be a success,” says Higgins.

“You mentioned Adrian Hession, the work he's done over the last 10 years has been huge, especially at underage level and in the schools around the county.

“Hopefully we're starting to see the fruits of that now. You have Caiseal Gaels fielding a junior team for the last couple of years and Ballina coming back this year. Moytura are setting up a Junior team now and there's talk that Claremorris will too in the coming years.

“Look, I think that's the most important thing regardless of how Mayo get on at Christy Ring and Nickey Rackard Cup level, if the underage structures in the county can be helped and promoted and we can grow the club game then the knock-on effect will hopefully be a more successful county team.

“There's always more too that can be done from a county board level and a Croke Park level for the so called weaker counties. Because it is always a small group of people keeping it going the whole time.

“That's all you can hope for, that you can develop the game. It's not even a five or ten year thing, it's a 20 or 30 year thing in reality. All we can do is focus on the next few years and take it from there.”