Tony Hegarty, a Mayfield GAA great, will be sorely missed by all

There was an air of shock and sadness in the Mayfield community with the passing of Anthony 'Tony' Hegarty recently.

Tony, (68) was born on Cathedral Road and attended the North Mon before moving on to become a bricklayer. He met the love of his life Noreen and married in 1982 where they duly moved to a house in Lotabeg and they were blessed with four children Barry, Michelle, Paul and Lynn.

In recent times his nine grandchildren were the pride of his life and he certainly was a very proud father and grandfather always putting his family first.

Tony’s involvement with Mayfield GAA began in 1997 when he took up coaching their U13 team and for almost 30 years he gave many voluntary hours to his beloved club.

A year later he was part of the coaching staff that helped the club win the U14 Premier city and county finalists.

Looking back on his involvement this team consisted of Nicky Kelly, Shane O’Donovan, Kevin Punch, David Malone, Eolan Bond and Gary Lehane all players that were part of Mayfield’s historic All-Ireland Junior hurling win in 2017.

This group of players proved vital to the club winning this prestigious championship and in later years this group were called “Hega’s Babes”.

The secret in any club is getting players from the community involved and for many years Tony coached at the Gael Scoil Montenotte, St John’s and St Mark’s with many children getting a good grounding for the GAA from his passion.

Over the years Tony made numerous trips with various teams in the club that included London, Belfast and Kerry all memorable moments to cherish for the young guns in the club.

Credit to the great man he was one of the first recipients of the coaching level 1 certification awarded by Croke Park and he later got involved with coaching the clubs U21, Junior and Intermediate hurling teams and also at Junior and Intermediate football.

Off the pitch Tony has undertaken several key responsibilities within the club’s executive team.

Over the course of his involvement, he served in important positions such as Registrar and Games Chairman, as well as contributing in various supporting capacities.

More recently, Tony has become actively engaged with the Lotto Committee, which plays a crucial role in the club’s fundraising efforts.

Since his childhood Tony was an avid Spurs fan and he ritually made a trip to London to see them play in the company of his sons Barry and Paul.

Everything in life was going to plan for Tony until last year when he was diagnosed with cancer and his battling qualities were seen to premium as he fought the disease with dignity and honour.

Eventually Tony was moved to Marymount and after 10 days he finally lost his battle for life.

Amazingly during his time at Marymount a number of his players that he coached came to see him before his passing and that have him a huge lift.

Adrian Greene soldiered with Tony for many years and in coaching Eoin O’Mahony was another close confidant with Steve Kelly his partner in crime for his trips to Spain for various vacations.

Sadly another on of Tony’s closest friends at Mayfield Ger Punch only died 13 months ago that also brought widespread sadness to the club.

The most striking part of his wake and funeral was the amount of young people that attended to pay homage and the general attendance was large in every sense of the word.

In his those who loved Tony without reservation – and whom he loved in return they suddenly find the harbour lights of their life have been extinguished.

But those same, bright lights were an enduring guide to more than family and friends because in truth Tony Hegarty was a very respected man in the Mayfield community.

So farewell to you Tony Hegarty and thank you from the countless hearts and souls of the many of us who believe that, with your passing you will be remembered as a man who not alone guided the youth of Mayfield on the pitch as players but for them to have successful careers.

Tony you taught players in Mayfield so much and influenced them on and off the pitch and inspired them to be polished men.

There is little doubt the name of Tony Hegarty will long live in the minds of all who had the pleasure to know him.

Thanks for the memories Tony.

You will be missed!