NAME: Ger Heavin DATE OF BIRTH: 23/8/72 HEIGHT: 5'8" WEIGHT: 11st 7lb CLUB: Moate COUNTY: Westmeath HONOURS: 1 Minor Championship, 2 Under 21, Westmeath Minor Player of the Year '89 INTER-COUNTY DEBUT: versus Leitrim PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Westmeath Independent Newspaper, Athlone TOUGHEST OPPONENT: I would have to say that Peter Smith, Mullingar is one that always springs to mind FAVOURITE GROUNDS: O'Connor Park, Tullamore, Hogan Park, Moate FAVOURITE POSITION: Centre Forward SPORTING AMBITION: To win an All-Ireland with Westmeath DO YOU PLAY ANY OTHER SPORTS: Yes,soccer, badminton, tennis, basketball BOYHOOD HEROES: Matt Connor (Offaly); John Egan (Kerry), both match winners FAVOURITE PLAYER: I admire John Murray from my own club because of his outstanding dedication, and Martin McHugh of Donegal, it proves you don't have to be big! ANY GOOD SPORTING YARN: If it moves, stop it, and if it's stopped, move it! BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON CAREER: My father WAYS OF IMPROVING THE GAME: Better use of the advantage rule DISLIKES ABOUT THE GAA: The poor standard of refereeing BEST GAME SEEN: '82 All-Ireland, Kerry v Offaly PLAYERS WITH A PROMISING FUTURE: Francie Grehan (Roscommon), Damien Faolin (Moate/Westmeath) HOPES FOR 1993: To see Westmeath win a major championship, to stay free of injury YOU ARE A PRODUCT OF THE CARMELITE COLLEGE, MOATE: That is correct. the Carmelite is a fine school and I enjoyed my time there. There was always a strong tradition of football with some great teams coming from the school IT IS A GREAT GAA SCHOOL: Yes, the Carmelite won three All-Irelands in six years and I think it was six Leinster titles in a row. Some fine footballers learned their trade there. Household names like John Maughan, Val Daly, Aidan O'Halloran all went to the Carmelite FR. CREMIN IS MR FOOTBALL THERE: Yes, he's the boss down there and the county and town owes him a great deal. He has not had much luck of recent years and many teams have literally thrown away games DO YOU REALISE THAT THE GAA OWE YOU A HUGE DEBT? THAT WINNING POINT OF YOURS AGAINST FAVOURITES OFFALY MEANT A HUGE FINANCIAL BONUS TO THE GAA WITH THE DOWN AND MEATH PLAY-OFF, NOT TO MENTION KEEPING THE ROYAL COUNTY IN THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: Oh yes, I was well aware of that! Sure, Liam Mulvihill and Sean Boylan were right behind me when I took the kick. And they both personally thanked me afterwards WESTMEATH WERE ON A HIGH FOLLOWING THAT WIN OVER OFFALY. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE MEATH GAME? We were delighted with the win over Offaly of course, and we had high expectations of another good performance against Meath. But for some reason, we never got into the game. The loss of John Cooney was a huge blow to us. John is a very influential player and his loss seemed to upset the whole town. But Rome wasn't built in one day and we believe that with hard work we can make the breakthrough THE TEAM HAVE PUT IN A BIG EFFORT OVER THE WINTER MONTHS: Yes, the response to training has been excellent. We trained hard and prepared well for every game. We know that we have a lot of work ahead of us but speaking for the players, we are prepared to make the effort NEW TEAM MANAGER MATTIE KERRIGAN HAS WELDED THE SQUAD INTO QUITE A USEFUL UNIT. YOUR VIEWS ON THE BIG SUMMERHILL MAN: Mattie has transformed this team and the players. He has got us believing that we are as good as any team in the country. As well as that, our supporters now believe in the team. Mattie is very straight with the players and he has won the respect of all. I personally find Mattie's advice to be encouraging. He has given the younger lads on the panel every encouragement when playing. Players need confidence and that is what Mattie has instilled in each one of us HEAVIN IS QUITE A FAMOUS GAA FAMILY NAME AROUND MOATE: Heavin is not a very common name outside Westmeath, but the Heavin name has long been associated with the Moate club. My father won three senior championship medals with Moate and he is currently Treasurer of the club. Sean Heavin is a well known footballer throughout the country, having played with Westmeath for many years. And my brother Michael and myself will insure that it stays around for a while yet TELL US ABOUT YOUR CLUB: Moate is a very old club and it was formed in 1884. The team was formerly known as Moate Stars but all those 'stars' have since passed away. Moate have won seven senior championships. the last being 1983. We have a very young team at the moment. The average age is only about 23. The future looks good if the team can stay together but nowadays that is a very difficult thing to do THERE ARE QUITE A FEW TEAMS IN YOUR IMMEDIATE VICINITY. IN FACT, VERY NEAR NEIGHBOURS ROSEMOUNT WON THE WESTMEATH SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP RECENTLY: Yes, Rosemount won the title in 1989 after a lengthy gap. There is fierce local rivalry between the two clubs and many a good tough encounter has been played. At underage level Moate, Rosemount and St. Josephs combine together under the name St. Bridgets. They have been very successful, winning a Minor and 2 Under 21 Championships in the last four years OFFALY IS ONLY A STONES THROW FROM MOATE. ANOTHER SET OF NEIGHBOURS, TUBBER WHO WERE ONLY FORMED A LITTLE OVER TEN YEARS AGO, HAVE MADE GREAT STRIDES IN THE FAITHFUL FOOTBALL WORLD: That is true. I actually went to primary school in Tubber and I played school football with a lot of the lads now making their names with Tubber. John Moran has been a great servant to Tubber and from being only a junior team, players like John have brought Tubber through the grades to be a fine senior team IN THE LAST COUPLE OF SEASONS, MOATE USUALLY CAME OUT SECOND BEST TO STRONG MULLINGAR AND ATHLONE OUTFITS: Two out of the last three years Mullingar have knocked us out of the championship. There was only a couple of points difference in the scoreline at the end but we seemed to be coming out on the wrong end. Hopefully, this year we can pull one over on them should we meet, which is quite possible YOU WERE PART OF A FINE WESTMEATH MINOR TEAM IN 1989. WHY DO YOU THINK SO MANY WESTMEATH MINOR FOOTBALLERS FAIL TO DEVELOP INTO SENIOR PLAYERS? That's a very good question and I wish I knew the answer. The problem is that players after minor level and after coming out of school find themselves having to leave the country for work or just let themselves go. The step up from minor to senior is enormous and some players lose their way after minor level so that when it comes to senior, they are either not around or are no longer playing the game WHO WOULD BE THE BEST YOUNG FOOTBALLERS IN THE COUNTY AT THE MOMENT: It's difficult to single any one player out because ever club as fine young players. In my own club Michael Heavin, Damien Faolin, Kit Gillivan are all promising players MATT KERRIGAN IS SENIOR TEAM MANAGER, WHO ARE HIS HELPERS? Carthrage Conlon, Mattie Corcoran and Davy Gavin are his selectors while a man known as \The Killer' is always there to help the players with rubs of injuries ARE THE SAME SQUAD IN CHARGE OF THE UNDER 21 TEAM: No, John Fagan who coached last year's fine minor team is in charge of the Under 21s and Brian Corcoran and Michael McHugh are his selectors WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WESTMEATH'S SIDE OF THE LEINSTER FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP DRAW? It is a tough draw but the best have to be beaten if anything is to be won. We have no fears of any team anymore. We feel we are equally as good as any team in Leinster, so we will just take them whoever they are. Every team is made up of 15 players and if that team believes they are good enough, then they will take some stopping 1993 TO BE THE YEAR WHEN PEOPLE SIT UP AND TAKE NOTICE OF WESTMEATH: People are already taking notice and by the time the summer is over, we will have raised a few eyebrows Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 2nd April 1993 Vol 3 No 13 Tweet

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