Gearóid Hegarty would hate to see VAR come into hurling

Michael Bolton

Limerick hurler Gearóid Hegarty says he is firmly against the idea of the likes of VAR being brought into hurling.

With fans spoiled for years with the drama and excitement that came with every season, hurling is finding itself possibly looking at other sports to see how it can improve the game.

The idea of video assistance for referees has been floated about following some controversial decisions through the seasons, along with the speed of the game.

Umpires and linesmen being more involved is also being talked about, but six-time All-Ireland winner Hegarty is more than happy with the current state of the game.

"I would hate to see something like VAR brought into hurling," Hegarty said this week as he collected his PWC GAA/GPA Player of the Month award for July.

"I find soccer nearly unwatchable these days - and I used to love watching it - but VAR has ruined it.

"If you compare even how we use HawkEye. You have one or two small stoppages - but imagine 15 or 20 of them in a game. It would ruin the flow of hurling."

Despite the success of the rule changes in football, the Limerick man does not see the need for a raft in changes in hurling.

"Hurling is great. There are things that could be better, yes. The new rules in football have been brilliant - and I love the football, always have - but I wouldn't like to see a large number of new rules brought into hurling. I don't think it's needed."

Heading into this season, Limerick found themselves in an unfamiliar position, having gone the last two seasons without an All-Ireland.

Despite so much success with the Treaty county, the Limerick forward still had his doubts coming into the season, and wondered if the glory days were gone.

"I always have doubts. I had doubts after last year: would we ever get back to Croke Park, just get back to Croke Park. Now, these would be fleeting moments; I'm not saying that I'd be riddled with doubt, but I have them.

"You'd have nerves before a game, you'd be doubting yourself, of course you would, but as I get a bit older you learn to not try to fight these off.

"I suppose curiosity is a big one for me as well in terms of being curious as to why you feel this way. You learn how to deal with these things, and that's what makes it all the more satisfying, I suppose, when you're sitting here today talking to you after winning another All-Ireland."

A crucial part of one of the best teams the game has seen, the 31-year-old has learned to be patient and appreciate success as it comes, as he knows it will not last forever.

"I've relaxed a lot, that's probably the big one. I've tried to become a more patient person is a big one for me, because I suppose the world we live in nowadays, everything is at the touch of a button and you can get everything so quickly.

"But if you want to achieve something so deeply and something that's so hard, you have to be patient. You have to wait. You have to keep putting in the work, you have to keep showing up, but you have to wait for it to happen. I'm not sure if that makes sense to you?

"I'm boiling that down to the smallest moments in game, I'm boiling that down into the week leading into the game, I'm boiling that down into the whole year. Patience is something that I've tried to work on a lot this year; I've just become a more patient person just in general, which is probably the one thing that I really went after this year.

"I always like to go after something; that's probably something that I went after this year. I can think of games, maybe the game in Ennis this year; I don't think I touched the ball for the first 10 or 15 minutes. Once upon a time, when I was a bit younger, I would have been panicking.

"But as you grow a little bit older, and, as I said, I've been working on becoming a more patient person, you realise that catastrophising or freaking out definitely won't help.

"You've just got to keep making the runs, keep looking for the ball, and eventually you work your way into the game. You learn these things as you get a bit more older, a bit more experienced.

"When you look back on your career, you wish that you knew these things when you were younger."