The only way is up
Hegarty hoping Wexford can escape basement battle as four counties go into the final round eyeing promotion place
JOHN Hegarty breaks into a laugh at the timing of the question. It is Wednesday morning and if the country is feeling the tremors of a political earthquake, Hegarty has a bigger reason than most to see the ground cracking beneath his feet as an outgoing Fine Gael councillor.
‘Well, myself and Leo are stepping aside at the same time,’ he jokes, dismissing a query as to whether he will manage both a local election campaign and the Wexford senior footballers this summer.
Wexford football will have his full attention, but then it always has.
A playing career that bridged 12 seasons and that ended with him playing at the top, is capped now by a stint as manager as he seeks to lift them off the bottom.
Tomorrow presents a chance of sorts to do that. While the top divisions in the Allianz League have bled pretty much all intrigue going into the final round, down in the basement they will come armed with calculators and Hawk-Eye technology to see who are the first two over the promotion line in a four-way photo finish.
In reality, Laois are a length ahead and need to just avoid defeat on the road to bottom-of-the-table Waterford, but a sliver of light barely separates Wexford and Longford who go head-to-head at Wexford Park.
And yet should Wexford win that game, it is likely that the team just behind them, Leitrim, will profit by winning promotion, thanks to a round-three result sauced with a dollop of contention.
‘We were two points up three minutes into injury-time and the referee gave a penalty for what Arsene Wenger might call dubious reasons and we lost by a point.
‘Our players were absolutely gutted, really devastated with how things finished up in Carrick-on-Shannon but the response from there has been fantastic.
‘Since then, they have had an 11point win, a 10-point win and a 14point win and, as a manager, you can’t ask for more of a response from a group of players than that,’ says Hegarty.
He is rooted enough in football’s reality to know where in the food chain Division 4 teams are, but for all those who might turn up their nose at the basement, there is a rawness of honesty and effort there that those at the elite end of the leagues simply can’t replicate.
‘Division 4 is really helter skelter because you can take any team in the other divisions and if things are not going exactly to plan, you just win a couple of games, solidify your position and start looking at championship.
‘Down here, the real prize is to go up to the next level and to do that, you have to be on it for every game.
‘We played well in every game bar one in the second round against Laois when we did not perform and yet on the last day of the season there are no guarantees for us.
‘It is really difficult but if you are going to build for the future, the division you are in the league is the foundation from where you build and there is an awareness of that among everyone this division that makes this so competitive.’
And there are better footballers down at the bottom than credit is given for.
Last weekend, at the age of 36, Ben Brosnan, All-Ireland semi-finalist and All-Star nominee 16 years ago, came off the bench against Tipperary and kicked two points to equal Brian Malone’s 174 appearances, a record which he will break tomorrow.
‘Remarkable is the word I would use to describe him,’ gushes Hegarty.
‘At the end of last year, there were questions as to whether he would or would not come back, but he is really, really enjoying his football and he performed so well in the club championship.
‘He has been involved in every competitive game we have played this
year and I think he scored in all of them. He is certainly our top scorer (he has notched 2-11 thus far), so it is not the case that he is there for his experience or what he brings to the squad, although he really adds a huge amount in that regard and he is the ideal role model for any young player who is coming in.
‘The bottom line in inter-county football is that you still need to be able to produce the goods and he is certainly doing that on a consistent basis.
‘At this stage of his career that is down to his level of preparation, his attention to detail which sometimes is not associated with stylish forwards but Ben brings all of that.
‘But there is genuine, top-class talent in this division.
‘If you just take the four in contention for promotion, Laois, Longford, Leitrim and ourselves, all of us have more than a handful of players who would be well capable of playing up in division one and two.
‘You could transport them into a team and they would operate comfortably there. Maybe the belief and opportunity is not there but don’t tell me the talent isn’t.’
Hegarty is well placed to make that judgment, having spent the bulk of his career playing lower-tier football. He was there when Wexford started to rise in the mid noughties, playing in a Division 1 National League final in 2005 against Armagh, when Meath and Monaghan were on the undercard in the Division 2 decider.
He was retired when Wexford took their revenge against Armagh in the 2008 All-Ireland quarter-final, but in a way that only serves to accentuate their fall.
Hegarty argues that where there is a way down, there is a way back up.
‘If you look at Derry, they were in Division 4 five years ago and look where they are now. I am not saying everyone can be like them, but look at a county like Cavan and how they have gone up through the divisions in recent seasons.
‘It just requires a group of players to commit to something over a couple of years, to take the lessons learned, take the knock-backs, continue to improve and have a little bit of confidence.’
Today, he hopes, might be the start of that, but what of that career in local politics which he has pulled the curtain down on?
‘There is an undercurrent to it and it is not pleasant at times. Look, nobody is saying that public representatives should be given a free pass but at the same time, if that is how you choose to serve your community or put yourself forward for it, that should not be carte blanche to take some of the abuse you see online. ‘Luckily, I don’t get that and I haven’t ever but it is something I would be concerned for the future about.
‘The same abuse is dished out to players and managers, you look at some of the stuff that goes out in GAA circles at times, so I don’t think that is just in politics and society needs to have a look at itself.’