Hegarty recalls Ulster final victory

ark McHugh, Patrick McBrearty and Michael Hegarty, Donegal players from the Kilcar GAA club, along with the Anglo Celt cup

2011 was justification for Michael Hegarty. It was the year that Donegal’s record appearance holder in Championship football finally got his hands on the Anglo Celt Cup. Twelve years on from his debut, it was reward for the sacrifice endured over that time. It made all those sprints, all those tackling grids worthwhile.

After overcoming Ulster specialists Tyrone in a bruising semi-final encounter to ensure the Red Hands and Armagh would not be able to continue their 12-year dominance of the competition, the Kilcar man admits that the side had no fear of losing to a Derry team that had tore Armagh apart in their own last-four match.

“We had trained very, very hard. We went in as one of the fittest Donegal teams ever to go into an Ulster final.

“We went in, I suppose, knowing that we were going to win it as long as we didn’t do anything stupid.

“There was a buzz going at the time, we knew we could do the business and it was only a matter of seeing it out.”

The full story is in the current issue of Gaelic Life, published on Thursday June 4. Buy your copy now in your local newsagent, or you can purchase the online version – for only 90p – by clicking here