The ageless wonder: Michael Hegarty is back for more at Kilcar

When Michael Hegarty took the field in Towney on Saturday for the league game against St Michael's, it was his 26th consecutive season playing senior football for Kilcar.

His longevity is not unique, but in terms of his contribution towards his club and county, it ranks very high on any list.
He made his senior championship debut for Kilcar as a 17-year-old on 22nd September, 1996, coming on as a late substitute for Michael McShane in Donegal Town. Kilcar were playing local rivals Killybegs, who won the game by a point.

He had earlier that year been part of a Donegal minor team that had won Ulster and reached the All-Ireland semi-final, only to lose out narrowly to Laois, the eventual All-Ireland champions.

It had been a massive year for the man from Up the Glen as he had won an All-Ireland Vocational Schools medals in the spring of the year.

He would go on to play U-21 and senior for Donegal, winning a National League Division One medal in 2007 and an Ulster senior championship medal in his final year with the county in 2011.

His first Donegal appearance was against Armagh in the National League in Ballyshannon on November 1, 1998 while his first Ulster championship appearance was against the same opposition in 1999.

His county stats are also staggering - 127 appearances for the county; 50 championship appearances and 12 senior championship campaigns.

But it has been his great allegiance to Kilcar which marks him as a special player. That allegiance is best underlined by the standing which Hegarty is held by the GAA community in the parish. To say he is one of the most popular players ever produced by the Kilcar club would be an understatement.

That he is still turning out for the club at 42 says it all. And he is not alone. Conor McShane, a year younger, but who started out as a goalkeeper around 1999, is also still going strong. Must be something in the water down there.

To mark his appearance in his 26th consecutive year, we got a vox pop of people he has played with and under for a snapshot of the footballer that is Michael Hegarty.

Michael Molloy (Hegarty's first club manager)
"He was very easy to deal with as a young player, very keen to learn and eager to play. He was a very skillful player from underage upwards. He has been a very consistent player for the club and one of the most popular ever to play for Kilcar. He was always very approachable. He was easy for players and management to deal with and he became a real leader for the club for a long, long number of years.”

Michael McShane (Kilcar clubmate)
“What can you say about this man that has not already been said. Only for Michael through the Noughties, he was the man that kept Kilcar afloat for those seven or eight years, from Division 1 to Division 2, up and down. He was the man that led us through that period.

"We'd had a lot of boys that retired, the McHughs and John Carr. It was a new era and Michael Hegarty was our rock, the mainstay of our team and the man that the younger generation was looking up to.

"It is a credit to himself and the likes of Conor McShane, the way they look after themselves on and off the field to be fit to keep going. They are an example to any young player. To be still playing at his age is a great achievement.”

John McNulty (Kilcar manager)
"Phenomenal, to be still playing at 42. There are very, very few who are able to do it. He makes it look easy. Avoiding any serious injury was a factor, but in saying that I think he is a bit of a freak of nature to be able to do that.

“He would be a calming influence on his fellow players, especially the younger players. He would probably be giving them wee tricks of the trade every now and then. Especially when you are playing without the county players, he is a great asset to have around. I guess when a game would be helter skelter, he would calm it down. The younger players would enjoy playing with them.

“He would be a player who played with the head. He enjoyed his game the last day anyway and he didn't look out of place. He can stride through a player.

"I had him first in 2006 when he was in his prime at 27/28. He had an absolute brilliant year and he was the only county player we had. We had him for nearly every game; he ended up getting Player of the Year, I think his first for the club. We ended up joint top of the league that year and in a league semi-final. He brought his fellow players to another level.

"He has had a stellar career and it's not over yet. Last year's county final not being played was a factor in him staying on.”

Manus Boyle (former opponent)
“As a footballer he is probably one of the most graceful on the eye that I have ever seen over the years. His commitment towards Kilcar after his retirement from Donegal is exceptional considering he doesn't live in the parish anymore. He comes in and out to training - he keeps himself in exceptional shape.

“And to be playing at senior level, not just filling a jersey, but to be doing it with the elegance and grace that he offers Kilcar and the experience them younger players are getting by playing with the likes of Hegarty, you can't buy that.
"Hegarty would be one of my players, when you look back, you would say, I'd pay money to watch him. And there are very few of them.”

Mickey Moran (former Donegal manager)
"I had the privilege of going to his mother's funeral and the sermon was beautiful. Lady of the Glen, born in the Glen and she moved to another part of the Glen and died in the Glen. I can see how Michael is the fella he is. He is a lovely, genuine, modest lad, always knows where he came from. I think his mother rubbed off on him.

“You have to be character to be a class footballer. You have to have respect for yourself and others and he carried that with him. To me he was just a class act. He had style, panache, control, every skill in the book. He could make space among 20 people. He read the game and he could adapt and change it and inspire others to change it.

"His passing ability, taking scores, defensive ability. He was just the ultimate footballer as is witnessed by the affection his peers have for him. Now he is a tough man but there was no malice and he played the game the way it should be played.

"It was my privilege to work with him. There comes a period when you meet players like Michael who improve you and that is something I will never forget.

"I went to see Kilcar play in Ballyshannon, Brian Roper's team and they were under severe pressure. On two occasions, against a gale force wind, Michael Hegarty went down and took a short kick out and went the whole way up the pitch and scored two points. He was just a leader and I know he loved his club,"

“I went to watch Kilcar and Slaughtneil when he was manager a few years ago. That was the first time as a manager that I became a spectator on the sideline. Two magnificent teams. You would have thought that Michael at his age then would not have been at that level, but he was magnificent," said Moran, who said that after the game they exchanged hugs. "I will never forget that.”