Never giving up, never giving in: How Rob Hennelly has bounced back from adversity 

Elite sport is cold, brutal and ruthless but nobody is more exposed to its perils than the goalkeeper. The scars of Mayo's 2016 All-Ireland defeat to Dublin took a long time to heal, but they did. And the wound revealed Hennelly’s true character.

Mayo’s fans celebrate after goalkeeper Rob Hennelly kicked the equalising point against Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

At the end of normal time of the All-Ireland semi-final, just after Robbie Hennelly had nailed the equalising ’45, the TV cameras flashed to the ecstatic Mayo supporters in the stand, one of whom was a visibly animated Andy Moran, who was jumping up and down like an Energizer Bunny.

Emotion was at fever pitch by that stage. Every Mayo supporter was juiced up on a narcotic of elation and excitement. The win in extra-time drove them all into a state of nirvana, but a few days later on Off the Ball’s ‘Football Pod with Paddy and Andy’, Moran articulated the depth of that feeling towards Hennelly, and why his score sparked such a guttural reaction.

“Some of that (excitement) was for Mayo,” said Moran. “But some of it was for Robbie. I can honestly say that Robbie is the best team-mate I’ve had in my whole career. He carries the dressing room. He is such a good guy.

“For him to go through what he went through in the last few years has been exceptionally tough for us as a group, because he means so much to the group. He really is a special human being.”

The emotion burst out of everyone at the final whistle, but it flowed out of Hennelly like a geyser. There was a photograph taken of Hennelly with his wife Jenny, where Hennelly was wiping away the tears from his eyes.

Mayo have suffered desperately at the hands of Dublin, but nobody endured that pain more than Hennelly. He only played against Dublin in two of their five All-Ireland final defeats but one of those — the 2016 final replay — cut deepest of all because it firmly lay the blame of Mayo’s one-point loss at Hennelly’s door.

A stray kickout led to Lee Keegan being black-carded. A dropped high ball and subsequent foul saw Hennelly walking on a black card, which resulted in a penalty converted by Diarmuid Connolly.

Elite sport is cold, brutal and ruthless but nobody is more exposed to its perils than the goalkeeper. The scars of that defeat took a long time to heal, but they did. And the wound revealed Hennelly’s true character.

“I never really spoke to Robbie about that 2016 replay,” says David Clarke, the All-Star ‘keeper that season, but who was dropped for Hennelly for that replay. “It can’t have been easy, but it was a mark of the man of how he came back straight away and worked harder than ever.”

The pathway back was never going to be straightforward for Hennelly. Clarke played throughout the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons until the door sporadically reopened for Hennelly during 2019.

A league game that spring against Dublin was his first playing in Croke Park since the 2016 replay but Hennelly featured in four league matches during that campaign, including the final against Kerry. Redemption felt complete when Hennelly parried a late punched effort from David Clifford in Mayo’s narrow win.

Hennelly started Mayo’s first two championship matches but he was ropey in the Connacht semi-final defeat to Roscommon. Clarke returned again afterwards until Hennelly reclaimed the jersey when injury kept Clarke out of the final Super 8 game against Donegal and the All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Dublin.

Clarke manned the position again throughout last year’s championship until announcing his retirement in January. Clarke was one of the game’s greatest goalkeepers, but his constant battle with Hennelly was the blade that kept him so sharp.

“Never having that luxury of being number one probably got the best out of me because Rob and I really pushed each other on,” says Clarke. 

Every night in training was a big game. You could never ease off. You were always on edge mentally.

“The greatest thing I can say about Rob is that he’s very open. He was always trying to improve, both himself and myself. Kicking is one of his real strengths and it was always something I was trying to get better at. He would make suggestions to me to maybe try different things.

“He was a real team player. If he wasn’t playing he was very much into analysing the opposition, especially their kickout strategy. It was never about him, but he always had savage desire to come back. Whenever he was given any opportunity he did well. That pushed me on to play my best.”

The Clarke-Hennelly battle was always a fascinating subplot in Mayo’s quest for that elusive All-Ireland because the carousel kept turning so often.

A serious leg injury to Clarke in 2011 allowed Hennelly, a brilliant minor in 2008, to graduate in his absence. Yet by the time Mayo reached the 2012 All-Ireland final, Hennelly wasn’t even on the squad, having stepped away after that year’s Connacht semi-final against Leitrim.

Frustration at not playing was compounded by the long slog of commuting from Dublin for training. When he changed jobs and moved back to Mayo later that year, Hennelly contacted James Horan and said he was available for selection again.

Horan was moving on without him, but Clarke got injured in the 2013 Connacht semi-final against Roscommon. Then Kenneth O’Malley got injured in a challenge game against Monaghan 10 days out from the Connacht final, and Hennelly was recalled. Bernard Brogan beat Hennelly and Ger Cafferkey to a dropping ball for Dublin’s first goal in the All-Ireland final, but Hennelly was outstanding that afternoon, making four excellent saves.

Hennelly played throughout 2014 but Clarke was number one again for the start of the 2015 championship until an injury during the All-Ireland quarter-final against Donegal paved a way back for Hennelly. He started the 2016 Connacht semi-final against Galway but was replaced by Clarke afterwards and didn’t return until the final replay.

Despite the intense competition, Clarke and Hennelly remained close friends. They always roomed together on away trips. “I’d like to consider myself a decent fella and Robbie is definitely a decent fella,” says Clarke.

He’s there for the right reasons. When I was playing he’d shake my hand and wish me the best of luck and I knew he really meant it. Robbie is just a genuinely good fella.

That good nature and humility has always been a defining personality trait. “If there is one word to describe Robbie Hennelly, it’s a gentleman,” says Seán Deane, the current Mayo minor manager and a clubmate of Hennelly’s at Breaffy.

“I was the coaching officer in the club for a number of years and anytime I asked Robbie to do some coaching, he was always very helpful. It’s a pleasure to know Robbie.”

Those around Breaffy have always been witness to how hard Hennelly works at his own game. Deane was up at the pitch earlier this week and Hennelly was there practising his kickouts and free-taking.

“His work-rate is incredible,” says Deane. “Robbie has had a lot of things to deal with, especially unfair criticism, but his mental strength has always been phenomenal. He has always had great belief in himself. He’d be very confident but he is very humble. If anyone deserves success, it’s Robbie Hennelly.”

It was fitting Hennelly had such a say in deciding the Dublin game when scoring three placed balls in a low scoring tight match. One free was from 57 metres but his courage to nail such a difficult late ’45 was a metaphor for the bravery and defiance Hennelly has shown over the past decade.

On a wet and difficult evening for kicking, Mayo won 91% of their own kickouts. Mayo secured 11 of their 13 mid to long-range restarts. The score which put Mayo ahead 0-15 to 0-14 in extra-time was sourced from a high-risk missile Hennelly pinged to Jordan Flynn at midfield. Mayo have mined 2-9 from Hennelly’s kickouts in their last two games.

“Robbie has always had a brilliant kicking range,” says Clarke.

Yet, as Moran acknowledged, Hennelly’s contribution always extended far beyond his talent on the pitch. “Robbie was always a great influence, a great character to have around the place,” says Clarke. “He is brilliant at bringing fellas together, especially when new lads come in. He’s great fun, some craic. He’s the guy you’d want to be out with.”

Hennelly was always a brilliant goalkeeper but being the undisputed number one this year seems to have imbued him with more confidence. He is no longer looking over his shoulder.

An umpire for one of Mayo’s recent championship matches privately remarked afterwards that Hennelly seemed more relaxed and composed than ever before.

Now, Hennelly arrives back at a target he first manically started chasing 13 years ago. Growing up, Hennelly ditched football between 14-16 to concentrate on golf. When he returned, he was still good enough to play with the Mayo minors in his last year in the grade in 2008. Mayo lost the All-Ireland final to Tyrone after a replay but Hennelly was convinced afterwards about the route he wanted to pursue.

“It wasn’t a straightforward path for me,” Hennelly said in an interview in 2014.

“I only played one year with the minors, but it was a rollercoaster year. After that, I knew what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to achieve out of football. And that was to win an All-Ireland with Mayo.”

The rollercoaster has continued. The pursuit has been rocky and relentless and paved with hardship, but Hennelly has kept going, kept searching, never giving up, never giving in.

He has endured. Adversity shaped Hennelly. And overcoming it has defined him.