Former Dublin boss transformed Gaelic football
He helped revolutionise Gaelic football, transforming it from the catch-and-kick game to a passing and running game. Known for perfecting the role of the roving full-forward in his playing days, he also got centre-forward Tony Hanahoe to roam to reduce the influence of the centre-back and give the other forwards more room to operate.
Winning the 1974 All-Ireland title against all the odds was hugely significant and delivered the kiss of life to club competitions in Dublin and generated young followers to the GAA. They were a Division 2 team, having lost by two goals to Clare in Croke Park in the last round of the league and were anything but impressive in their opening championship game against Wexford.
But, Heffo had a plan. And, while the GAA world wasn’t to know it, he proved himself a supreme strategist. Dublin slipped up against an equally hungry Kerry team in 1975 but took the title from them 12 months later and retained it against Armagh in 1977.
Their jousts with the Kingdom — which included that memorable ’77 semi-final — were also contested on a personal front with Heffo and Mick O’Dwyer vying for the honour of being the most successful manager in history. And, as history records, the Waterville maestro came out on top with arguably the most accomplished group of players in history.
Heffo opted out after the 1977 triumph but returned to manage a fourth title success in 1983 in which the Dubs beat Galway after a memorable semi-final replay victory over Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. He was the GAA’s choice as Irish manager for the inaugural tour to Australia in 1986 and Mick O’Dwyer was not only peeved at being passed over, but hurt and annoyed he was never picked for the role.
Like O’Dwyer, Heffernan first made his name as footballer in his own right, winning 15 county championship medals with St Vincent’s between 1949 and 1967, as well as six hurling medals. While he won three league and four Railway Cup medals, in the championship arena he was confined to just one All-Ireland title in 1958, against Derry, when he was captain.
Three years earlier, he had been a key member of the all-conquering Dublin side which sailed into the All-Ireland final against Kerry as hot favourites but suffered a shock defeat.
Heffo admitted in Brian Carthy’s Football Captains that it took him a long time to get over the ’55 upset. 20 years later he got a chance to avenge that defeat, as manager of the reigning All-Ireland champions, but again he was frustrated.
“I was particularly disappointed that we hadn’t beaten Kerry, because they had beaten us in 1955 and I’ve always had a great relationship with Kerry and its people,” he said.
Jimmy Grey, ex-Leinster chairman and Dublin’s goalkeeper in the 1961 All-Ireland hurling final against Tipperary, was responsible for persuading Heffo to take over as manager.
“Football was not very healthy prior to that and the GAA was going through a bad time after the World Cup in England [1966],” explained Grey.
“There’s no doubt that Dublin and Kerry rescued the GAA. They gave it a huge boost certainly in Dublin, where you could have 500 people at a county final!”
Heffo explained: “All I set out to do was to try and get a team that could win. We had a poor record in the preceding years and morale was at very low ebb.”
Jimmy Keaveney was a spectator at their first outing in the championship against Wexford which preceded the NFL final replay between Kerry and Roscommon.
“I was at the game and certainly you could never have envisaged Dublin as All-Ireland champions, based on their display and the poor football produced,” he recalled.
In the end, they achieved that with a win over Galway, having shocked holders Cork in the semi-final.
“Watching from the Hill that day I saw nothing and I mean nothing to convince me that this bunch could ever win an All-Ireland title,” Keaveney said to John O’Shea in his The Book of the Dubs.
