Henderson’s a model of consistency JOHN HENDERSON — CLUB HURLER OF THE YEAR

Described as “a player who excelled in all games in 2016” by MC Jimmy Dunne and as someone who “doubled up as a lethal attacking weapon” in the Bray Emmets championship campaign that brought them a superb three-in-a-row of senior crowns, John Henderson was an excellent choice for the Club Hurler of the Year award at senior level.

Dominating the centre-half back position for the most part in 2016, Henderson guided his team through the tricky campaign that got underway with a defeat to Carnew Emmets whom they had vanquished in the championship final from the previous year.

John Henderson said that 2016 was a funny old year where Bray Emmets were a bit slow starting off but where everything came right in the end.

“It was a funny old year I suppose,” he said. “We were slow enough starting off. We were in the Leinster League final and obviously we were well bet in that. We kind of learned a few things from that and we went into the first round of the championship against Carnew and we were expecting that there’d be a bit of a backlash from the county final the previous year and, I suppose, we weren’t fully at strength but in fairness to Carnew they were the better team on the day and they got their tactics spot on and there was a bit of the ‘Casey effect’ that day as well but we were well bet that evening and I think we learned a lot from that.

“It kind of did take us a while to get going during the year. We have a lot of dual players in the club and we put a big effort into the football but as the season went on we started to improve and we played Glenealy in mid-August and that’s and that’s when we started to find a bit of form.

We played Pat’s in the semi-final and in fairness to Mick Neary, he’s done terrific work there and you can see that he’s brought them on a huge amount. And we were getting worried there for a while, there was a bit of that there, with 10 or 15 minutes to go but in fairness to Christy (Moorehouse) and the substitutions we made, the likes of Paudie Cunningham and Pádraig Doyle, it’s great to be able to bring in them lads, and they turned the game back in our favour.

John Henderson reflected in the county final with Carnew and he said that you would expect nothing less from the likes of Don Hyland than the magnificent score that sent the 2016 decider to a replay.

“It was a trademark score from Don, he’s doing it his entire career and he’s one of the best hurlers we ever produced and if they wanted one man to get the ball it was going to be him. I had a good view point of it anyway. I was getting a bit of stick, me and (Peter) Kiely, for not getting out to him quicker to block the shot, but, in fairness, it was a great score,” he said.

A different Bray Emmets emerged for the replay and their changes and their dynamic start put Carnew back on their backsides.

“We made a few tweaks, we looked at the video a good bit, we were a bit angry the way we let it slip, we were three points up so we weren’t happy with that.

“We made a few switches and we got on top early and there was a strong wind that day so we got a bit of a lead and it was always going to be hard for Carnew to get back but it was a great win again,” he said.

With John Henderson senior stepping down from the role of Bray Emmets manager, we wondered how the dynamic would change given the wonderful threeyear stint enjoyed under the reign of the former Kilkenny star.

“It’ll be a much quieter house anyway, joked John, “there would have been a few discussion sat the table. But he’s had his three years and he’s happy enough to step aside and let someone else in. It’s a young team, I think Peter Kiely is the oldest lad on the team and he’s on 30 years of age so there’s lots of talent coming through there and it’s a good opportunity for someone to come in and take it on another step.

And good news from the Wicklow hurling supporters point of view is that John is returning to the county squad and he is filled with optimism given the quality and experience of the management team.

“Yeah, I plan to go back on Friday night for training and the reports I’ve heard are very good. The last few years were disappointing but with the two guys over the team, they’re two brilliant hurling men.

“Mick Neary knows everything about Wicklow hurling and Seamus Murphy’s record speaks for itself and, as we know in Bray, he knocked us out of the Leinster club, and he’s a very good manager and hopefully there’s a league title there for us if we can get things right and we won’t be too far away.

And finally, what does winning the Club Hurler of the Year award mean to John Henderson.

“It’s great to get this award. It’s the icing on the cake to a good year. At the end of the day it’s all about getting another championship, the individual awards are the nice cherry on top,” he added.