*Dean Hegarty.
AFTER missing the entirety of last season through injury, Dean Hegarty has embraced his return to action and is playing a leading role for Newmarket Celtic in their quest for Clare Cup honours.
Hegarty will be on the left wing as Celtic bid to win a twentieth Clare Cup title on Saturday versus Tulla Utd. “Throughout the year we kept going, we had a few disappointments but we kept going, we’re hitting peak at the right time so we’re in a good position”.
It’s been a busy spell for the Kilnamona native who has completed his final year exams at University of Limerick where is a bio-mechanical engineering student. He’ll be heading to the United States on a J1 before commencing a Masters degree.
At UL, he won a Collingwood Cup. “The college soccer is a great standard, people don’t really look into it but it’s a great competition, this year we were unlucky we lost in the semi-final to the winners Maynooth. It’s a good standard, similar to the Munster junior cup. When you get to the latter stages it’s about trying to see out the game, it’s Cup football. They are different in their ways because it is a younger age-group with college football so everything I’ve learned from the lads in Newmarket benefits me, the same with most of the lads in UL who are playing with good teams in Limerick”.
In April 2023, he did his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in Newmarket’s FAI Junior Cup semi-final win over Fairview Rangers. “It was a long eight months. I missed the whole season last year, I was back in the mix for the Cup final last season but didn’t get on, I eased my way back in August and I have felt good since, I haven’t had many problems with it,” Hegarty reflected.
Missing big games and the loneliness of rehabilitation were among the most challenging aspects, Dean said. “The rehab is tough because you’re always on your own for nine months, in a team lads are pushing you but with this you’re on your own every day in the gym, it’s hard, that was the toughest part and watching from the sideline when you think you can play but you obviously can’t”.
He is more resilient now, gym sessions at Hotel Woodstock and UL strengthening body and mind with Seán O’Meara of Excel Physiotherapy overseeing his recovery.
Returning to action has been about seizing the opportunity. “I’m happy to be back, I’m enjoying it more than anything, we’re going well and playing well as a team”.
“Just to enjoy playing is my main target. I thought it would take another year to get back to myself playing and fitness wise, getting the touch of the ball but the main thing was to enjoy it again, I’m back in with the team and I missed that”.
Now in his third season with Newmarket, Dean told The Clare Echo. “The target from the start of the season was to get to this final and its great to be there. We have had a few disappointments this season but we are hitting peak form at he right time”, he said.
Prior to this, he played with Avenue Utd up until the age of sixteen, then moving onto Ennis Town where he lined out in a Munster U19 final losing to Midleton 3-0 in May 2022. “I was with Avenue when I was younger at underage, I moved to Ennis Town when I was sixteen, I left Ennis Town the summer the junior team folded, Newmarket asked me in then”.
Among those encouraging a move to Celtic was his mother Patricia Greene, a native of Newmarket-on-Fergus. “Mam kind of pushed me too, I’ve a good bit of family in Newmarket which would have always meant I had another home here”.
Hegarty has relished his time with Celtic. “It’s been great, I enjoy coming here everyday, the community outside of soccer is brilliant, everyone around in Clare knows the crowd they bring to every game, it’s great to have it with you as a player as opposed to being against it”.
Soccer is number one but he didn’t rule a future return to the hurling field for Inagh/Kilnamona, the club of his father Colin. “I did when I was younger, I left when I was U14, I enjoyed the hurling, I tried to get back but the soccer season is so busy but maybe at some point I’ll go back”.
