‘For Heffo, it was always about the team’

As Kevin Heffernan’s coffin left the Church of St Vincent de Paul on Dublin’s Griffith Avenue yesterday, a spontaneous applause enveloped the air.

This, after all, was a life worth celebrating.

Then, in another poignant if subtle moment, Brian Mullins, one of the pall-bearers and once one of Mr Heffernan’s midfielder warriors, caressed the wood as if to say “that’s for you, Heffo”.