Rob Heffernan interview: ‘I always felt like a bit of a black sheep’

I bollicked Marian for not having a drink ready while she was changing a nappy in the back of the car,” he says with a grimace.

DISTRESS SIGNAL: Rob Heffernan at the launch of the 2024 Mazars Steps Team Challenge.

Mano a mano. It started with a fighting fit John Joe Nevin and Rob Heffernan comparing six packs in a pub in Beijing. It finished when Nevin proposed a physical exchange, a punch for a punch.

“You can hit me. If I get back up, I can hit you,” Heffernan recalls. “I started crumbling. Shit myself. Again. Before I could give an answer, John Joe smiled, ‘don’t worry Rob. I’d never hit a man outside of the ring.”