50 ............... Wednesday, July 24, 2019 1RM

These lads have put hard work into bettering theirlives and theydeserve creditLAST Wednesday, SeánGannon was part of aDundalk side whichprogressed in theChampions League viaa penalty shootout.

It is not just high-levelsport where small marginsapply but life itself too.

Less than 48 hours after thegame in Riga, Gannon was inBallybough Community Centrealong with PFA Irelandgeneral secretary StephenMcGuinness.

They were there to presentastro boots to the eight-manIreland team competing in theweek-long Homeless WorldCup which starts in Cardiff’sBute Park on Saturday.

Among the recipients wasDean Fitzpatrick, a blast fromthe past from Gannon’s child-hood, from five-a-sides aroundthe Ringsend/Pearse Streetarea which also featured KeithBuckley.

Gannon is on course toclaim a record haul of leaguemedals, Buckley is a consis-tent performer for Bohemiansbut Fitzpatrick was a standoutGaelic player for Clanna GaelFontenoy before things went

awry. He is not the onlyplayer bearing a scar whichoffers a pointer to the previ-ous disorder in their lives.

But it is not the first thingyou notice about him when hearrives for training on a bikewearing a vest which meanshis bulging muscles are in fullview, which suggest the26-year-old is doing a decentjob of turning things aroundfor himself.

Gannon said: “I know Deana long time but I haven’t seenhim in a long time.

“People go through hardtimes in their life but you seehim today and he’s in betternick than myself!

“The people here have puthard work into betteringthemselves.

“They’re a credit to them-selves and it’s great to seethem so excited going off torepresent their country.”

Fitzpatrick is candid whenfilling in the gaps in his life.

He said: “I had trials withDublin and was training withthem for four or five months.

“Then drugs came into mylife, using drugs and sellingdrugs, and I just went into adownward spiral. My cousin

Jessica, who was the same ageas me, died of an asthmaattack and then my best mateDaryl died.

“I would have been veryclose to both of them and Ijust veered off track for fouror five years. It was cocaine,ecstasy and alcohol.

“I was in and out of prison.I did seven months, threemonths here, twomonths there, anothertwo months there,drug offences,assaults, fightingguards.

“I lost anotherfriend. He diedof an overdoseof pills and Iwas in the sameroom as him.

“That mademe worse becauseI couldn’t dealwith what was afterhappening. I was theone who brought him tothe place.

“It was like the blame wason me and I carry that bur-den to this day.”

An initial spell in rehab didnot work but a second, in theCoolmine Therapeutic Com-munity based on Lord EdwardStreet, did. He is doing a two-

year course in navigation onthe docks, trains before andafter and is looking foraccommodation to ensure heis not sucked back into hisprevious existence.

He said: “You burn so manybridges with people that theyjust give up on you.

“They’ll talk to you but theywon’t guide you becausethey’re after giving you so

many chances. It’s up toyourself.

“I’m mendingall the bridges

with the peo-ple that Ihurt and careabout. I’llcontinue todo that.

“I didn’treally want to

go back to mymother’s house.

I have but Iknow I can’t stay

there because whenyou’re in recovery, you’ve gotto change everything — people,places and things.

“I have HAP, the homelessallowance payment, I’m look-ing to try and get a placesomewhere but it’s very hard.”

Fitzpatrick says the tourna-ment’s timing is perfect in

giving him a focus. The teamis drawn from the HomelessStreet Leagues around thecountry, with long-servingvolunteer Seán Kavanaghcontinuing to keep the showon the road through constantfundraising.

The Limerick league pro-vided another team member,Myles Casey, who boasts aneven more impressive sportingpedigree.

Younger brother of formerworld super-bantamweightcontender Willie, who wasknown as ‘Big Bang’, Myleswas Ireland’s first boxer inthe ring at the 2015 EuropeanGames in Baku.

At flyweight, he defeatedIvan Fihurenka of Belarusbefore losing in the next round.

He is less keen thanFitzpatrick to discuss his backstory but lights up when hetalks about the role sport canplay in bringing him to a bet-ter place.

Casey, who shows neat feetin the 4 v 4 games whichensure plenty of thrills andspills, said: “I don’t like totalk about what I wentthrough. I like to move on toa bright future and what’s infront of me.

“If I can do it, everyone else

By NEIL O’RIORDAN

Happiest person in the world to put on

jersey

DUNDALK STAR HAILS DUNDALK STAR HAILS FELLOW PLAYERS’ EFFORT FELLOW PLAYERS’ EFFORT

PERTHFrom Back Page

sudden after six or sevenyears. But it’s about stay-ing in it, you’ll always geta chance to win the tie.We need to stay in it.

“They’re a very goodopponent. I’d say thedifference with someonesuch as Zenit is they hadmore established players,but they weren’t asathletic and technical asthese would be.

“We’d see these as aside that would causeBritish and Irish sidesmore problems in termsof one-touch football.

“In that sense, it’s asdifficult as we’ve had.

“But we’ve also seenareas where we canexploit them.

“When you’ve got play-ers like Patrick McEleney,Michael Duffy, Seán Mur-ray, Robbie Benson, we’renot stuck for players withattacking invention.

“It’s about keeping thetie alive.”

Dundalk do have thesafety net of knowing anexit will now see themparachuted into theEuropa League.

While beating Qarabagwill set up a date withCyprus’ Apoel orMontenegro’s Sutjeska, aloss will mean a date witheither Slovakia’s SlovanBratislava or Feronikeli ofKosovo.

Perth said: “It meansthat we’ve not got fourgames at least to testourselves in Europe.

“That’s what the playerswant but at the same timethere is a hunger thereto go one step further allthe time.

“Whether that is theChampions League routeor the Europa Leagueroute, we kept an eye onthe draw.

“We’ll focus on thatafter Wednesday.”

McELENEY . . . praised

Séan onthe move SEÁN McLOUGHLIN is onthe verge of a switch fromCork City to Hull City —as Trevor Clarke considersa move from ShamrockRovers to Rotherham.

McLoughlin, 22, is setto make a switch to theKC Stadium side, whohave beaten off competi-tion from Doncaster Rov-ers and Preston NorthEnd with Cork to receive asix-figure transfer fee.

Hull boss Grant McCannis a long-term admirerof the former IrelandUnder-21 defender andalso scouted him while atDoncaster while Preston’sAlex Neil was watchinghim earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Rovers left-sided player Clarke isholding talks with LeagueOne Rotherham and couldseal a move worth around€120,000 this week.

The Ireland Under-21star joined the Hoopsfrom Middlesbrough threeyears ago but has contin-ually attracted cross-channel interest.

1RM Wednesday, July 24, 2019 ............... 51

can do it. It’s not all bad,there’s good light there andyou can turn away from thebad. All the lads here, we’regoing well in life, it’s going inthe way we want it to, it’sthere for everyone.

“If you’re suffering with anysort of mental-health problemor anything, get out of bedand get walking. If you’re notinto exercise, get walking andkeep walking.”

Casey, also 26, says footballis being fitted around a biggeraim of trying to make it tothe Tokyo Olympics

He said: “It would be a mir-acle, something I dreamed of.I missed out four years ago.I’d problems with weight.

“I’m not saying I wouldhave qualified but I had achance and I messed up.

“Hopefully I can turn itaround this time.”

In between, he is savouringthe prospect of representinghis country in a seconddiscipline.

He said: “It makes me thehappiest person in the world toput on an Irish jersey.”

And that prospect is,according to Thomas Morgan,a key factor in offering hopeto people who may havestruggled to see any in their

lives. Morgan — who was partof Brian Kerr’s famous Irelandside which came third at theWorld Youth Cup in Malaysiain 1997 — said: “We always goto the Mansion House andWes Hoolahan gave last year’steams their caps and he said,‘They’re the same as mine’.

“Representing your countryat any level is a great honour.

“Whatever they’ve gonethrough in their lives, feelinglike they’re in an alleywaythat they can’t get outof, this gives them anopportunity

“We have social coacheswho look after the lads’needs.

“I don’t know much abouttheir backgrounds but if theybring it up, you’ll have aconversation.

“Some have had drug oralcohol problems, have gonedown the wrong road and arenow trying to turn their livesaround.

“They mightn’t have hadstructure in their lives so youtry to give them disciplineand a routine but, at the endof it all, it’s football and Itreat everyone the way Ialways have.

“Once they give you respect,you give them respect back.”

LOADS OF MYLES IN THE TANK . . .(left to right) Myles Casey, Dundalk’s Seán Gannon and Ireland homeless boss Thomas Morgan at Ballybough

Community Centre this week

GANNON FODDER . . .Seán speaks to our man Neil

LET’S GET IT DUN . . . Hoban wants a taste of

the big timein Europe

PATRICK HOBAN watchedDundalk’s European run in 2016as a fan.

And he now hopes to be part ofa memorable campaign himself.

The Lilywhites are in the secondqualifying round of the ChampionsLeague after seeing off Riga in ashootout last week.

They welcome Azerbaijan cham-pions Qarabag to Oriel Parktonight — and Hoban revealedthey were straight back to workwithin hours of the victory inLithuania.

The striker, 27, said: “It wasobviously a massive highbecause you’re through to thenext round and everyone isbuzzing.“But once we got on the

plane, we knew we had Qara-bag and we were all hovering

over Ruaidhrí Higgins, who waswatching Qarabag on the laptop.”

Qarabag have reached the groupstages of the Europa League for fiveseasons running.

Hoban added: “You could see thequality of football they play. Theyplay fast, flowing football but theydo have their weaknesses and weworked on that during the week.

“They do leave spaces, quite a lot,but they are so good on the balland you have to give them thatrespect as well — not too much athome though.

“We have done a lot of work dur-ing the week and we’ve beendrilled with every little detail andeveryone has to be on it.

“If you’re not, you’ll get punished,simple as. They have high-qualityattacking footballers but they doleave space. You have to make sureyou exploit that but we have toremain patient.”

Hoban left the club in 2015 forOxford United.

He was with Mansfield for Dun-dalk’s epic 2016 run to the EuropaLeague group stages, where theyfinished with four points after adraw with AZ Alkmaar and a winover Maccabi Tel Aviv. A play-offloss to Legia Warsaw prevented

them from becoming the first Irishteam to reach the ChampionsLeague group stages and Hobanadmitted: “I was on top of it all.

“I remember watching the gamein the Aviva against Legia and I’venever been so angry watching that.They got robbed, in my opinion.

“It was great to watch. Dundalkplayed very good attacking footballwith very good players and playedvery good football. Every result theygot they deserved.

“They were unlucky not to getthrough to the Europa League last32, I thought. They should havebeaten Zenit at home in Europe butthat’s the way some games go inEurope, you get punished.

“It was great to watch. This towngrabs on to the dream of Europeanfootball and you can see it beingaround the town. Younger and oldergenerations, they’re all buzzing.”

Boss Vinny Perth also highlightedhow Euro success is celebrated evenbeyond your local area, as he got apleasant surprise when watchingShamrock Rovers beat Brann in theEuropa League on Thursday.

Perth — who claimed to havereceived personal abuse from thestands in Tallaght during Dundalk’swin there last month — said: “It isa real sense that you’re represent-ing Ireland. I went to watch Sham-rock Rovers, I probably got stopped20 times and it was nothing morethan, ‘Brilliant result last night’,which isn’t the norm by Rovers fansin Tallaght! It’s brilliant.

“If we’d beaten Cork City thenight before, I certainly wouldn’t begetting that. It’s brilliant to see.

“We do support each other inEurope, it does become you’re rep-resenting your country when ithappens. That’s the best part ofEurope, how the normal Joe getsbehind Irish teams.”

FAN THE FLAMES

Pat wants 2016 repeat

CANDID CAMERA . . . Dean Fitzpatrick gets ready forthe Homeless World Cup

DUNDALK STAR HAILS DUNDALK STAR HAILS FELLOW PLAYERS’ EFFORT FELLOW PLAYERS’ EFFORT

7.45pm, eir Sport 1

Dundalk v Qarabag

HOW FOOTBALL COPED WITH HOW FOOTBALL COPED WITH THE LAST BIG SHUTDOWN THE LAST BIG SHUTDOWN

TO HILL AND BACKBy NEIL

O’RIORDANCHIEF SPORTS WRITER

JIMMY HILL left a rich legacy tofootball.

His role in the abolition of the maxi-mum wage in England, his advocacy ofthe three-points-for-a-win system andthe introduction of punditry are wellknown.

But Hill — who died at the age of 87 in2015 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s —may also have played a part, however smalland unwittingly, in the decline of the Leagueof Ireland’s fortunes.

The 1950s was the golden era ofthe domestic game in terms of crowds,with attendances in excess of 20,000 notuncommon.

The birth of Match of the Day is regularlypointed to as one of the main reasons behindthe drop-off.

Football could now be consumed in theliving room rather than the terrace.

But the programme started in 1964 and, theprevious year, Irish football had thrownopen its grounds to English clubs starved offootball.

It was during what was, until the currentcoronavirus pandemic, probably the biggestdisruption English football had suffered sinceWorld War II.

In the Big Freeze, temperatures plummetedto -20OC. Frozen snow was three foot deep inplaces.

Manchester United did not play a competi-tive match for eight weeks.

The FA Cup third round took 66 days tocomplete, with the tie between Coventry Cityand Lincoln City postponed 15 times.

Ireland had a mild winter in comparison,something which caught Coventry City man-ager Hill’s attention.

On the back of his creative thinking, ninedifferent English clubs took part in 10matches in Dublin, Cork and Limerick injust 17 days.

They were fitted in with scant consider-ation given to the League of Ireland fixturelist which had already racked up 12 backmatches.

Between them, the friendlies attracted

around 100,000 paying spectators, proving tobe a far bigger draw than league matches ofthe day.

English clubs had of course played in Ire-land before but there had never been somany visits in such a short space of time.

And, although the matches were of varyingquality, the sheer volume enabled greaterfamiliarity with a higher-quality competitor.

Harry Gregg, Noel Cantwell, Nobby Stiles,John Giles, Bobby Charlton and Denis Lawhelped to attract 18,000 people to Milltown tosee United take on Coventry, then in theThird Division.

After expenses, £600 was split betweenUnited, Coventry — who would meet again inthe FA Cup the following month — and hostsShamrock Rovers.

To put that in context, the Hoops’ gatereceipts for an FAI Cup tie against Bohemi-ans that season was £300.

Liverpool were next up, although theyattracted the smallest crowd of any in thecapital.

But this was before their heyday. Althoughtheir starting XI contained Ron Yeats, Ian

Callaghan, Roger Hunt and Ian St John —who scored a hat-trick against Drumcondra— they were a newly-promoted side whosebest days were yet to come.

Despite Bill Shankly’s urging, the matchcould not go ahead as planned on the Tues-day night because of heavy rain and sleet.

Instead, it was played the following dayafter Dublin Fire Brigade pumped water offthe Tolka Park pitch.

Hill, meanwhile, had arranged to comeback to Ireland the following weekend. HisCoventry side took on Wolves at FlowerLodge, with both sides sharing a charteredflight from Birmingham to Cork.

It must have been a bumpy ride as SkyBlues forward Terry Bly withdrew with airsickness.

The local scribes were fawning in theirpraise of the 3-0 win for Stan Cullis’ side.One claimed a goal by Ron Flowers was thebest seen in the stadium, if not Cork.Another suggested the ground should berenamed Flowers Lodge.

Three days later, Stoke City took on acombined Bohs/Rovers team at Dalymount

Park. Stoke keeper Jimmy O’Neill said hewas glad to be back in Dublin to visit hissick mother.

His side were beaten 4-3, with the poorsecond-half performance of Stoke — whowent on to win the Second Division title thatseason — put down to a rumour which circu-lated that they might be required to fulfiltheir outstanding Cup tie against LeedsUnited at Elland Road the next day.

One report said that the best run by48-year-old Stanley Matthews on the nightwas to avoid ‘a horde of autograph huntersand back-slapping well-wishers’.

United flew back into Dublin that samenight before catching the Cork train the fol-lowing morning to take on Bolton Wanderers.

The game had been proposed by the CorkSchoolboys League and, after expenses, itshared whatever was left over with the twoclubs.

Beforehand, United boss Matt Busby said:“We are looking forward to Flower Lodge.Jimmy Hill recommended the pitch to us. Hetold us the pitch was a very good one.”

Paddy Crerand, who was making his debut

Top English clubs invade Ireland during Big Freeze of ’63

FEBRUARY 2, 1963Coventry City 2 Manchester United 2

(Milltown, Att: 18,000)FEBRUARY 6

Drumcondra 1 Liverpool 5(Tolka Park. Att: 3,000)

FEBRUARY 9Coventry City 0 Wolves 3

(Flower Lodge. Att: 7,000)FEBRUARY 12

Bohemians/Shamrock Rovers Select 4 Stoke City 3(Dalymount Park. Att: 15,000-20,000)

FEBRUARY 13Bolton Wanderers 2 Manchester United 4

(Flower Lodge. Att: 6,000)

Drumcondra 2 Birmingham City 0(Tolka Park. Att: 4,000)

FEBRUARY 14Limerick 2 Stoke City 5

(Markets Field. Att: 3,000)FEBRUARY 15

Burnley 1 Manchester City 1(Dalymount Park. Att: 15,000-20,000)

FEBRUARY 19Bohemians/Shamrock Rovers Select 0

Manchester United 4(Dalymount Park. Att: 15,000-20,000)

Drumcondra 2 Swindon Town 3 (Tolka Park. Att: 5,000)

RESULTS

HILL START . . . Match of the Day

star Jimmy Hill led the invasion of Ireland when he

was Coventry City manager during the Big Freeze

46 ............... Monday, April 13, 2020 1RM

HOW FOOTBALL COPED WITH HOW FOOTBALL COPED WITH THE LAST BIG SHUTDOWN THE LAST BIG SHUTDOWN

TO HILL AND BACKTop English clubs invade Ireland during Big Freeze of ’63

after a £50,000 move from Celtic, thoughtdifferently. Afterwards, he said: “I’ve neverseen as much mud in my life.”

United’s first visit to the second city was abig occasion.

The two sides were met off the train bythe Lord Mayor and factory workers startedtheir shifts earlier in order to get out in timeto see local hero Cantwell who would captainUnited to FA Cup glory a few months later.

But a sign of the negative consequences forlocal football was made clear when, as aresult of the pitch cutting up so badly aftertwo games in four days, Hibs had to cedehome advantage for their FAI Cup tie againstSt Pat’s.

That did not bother Busby who predicted:“This is only the start. From now on you canexpect more and more English sides in Ire-land for match practice during these weatherstoppages at home.”

Interestingly, Busby called for a March-to-November season, something echoed by hisBolton counterpart Bill Ridding who said“summer soccer is inevitable”.

Meanwhile, Hill’s proposal for the Cup tie

between Coventry and Lincoln to be movedto Dublin fell on deaf ears.

Back in the capital, Drumcondra defeatedBirmingham City 2-0 and, on St Valentine’sDay, Limerick hosted Stoke in what was areunion between Matthews and Limerickplayer-manager Ewan Fenton.

A decade previously they had won the FACup together at Blackpool.

Fenton gave his side the lead and it was2-2 at the break but, in the second half,Matthews showed his class as he teed up twogoals in a 5-2 win.

The late notice with which some of theseshowdowns were being arranged was under-lined when, on Friday, February 15, onepaper reported that if the league matchbetween Burnley and Blackpool, scheduledfor Saturday, was called off, they wouldinstead play each other at Dalymount thenight beforehand.

Burnley did play in Phibsborough that eve-ning but against Manchester City, with noexplanation given in reports for thechange in opponent. It did not seem tomatter to the public because, as it was

for the visit of Stoke, the crowd was esti-mated to be between 15,000 and 20,000.

There was a similar-sized crowd whenUnited played their third game in Ireland injust 2½ weeks, with Bohs and Rovers againjoining forces to provide the opposition.

It was a feisty affair with Frank O’Neill —the match-winner against Stoke — having togo to hospital for stitches for a gash on hisleg after a crude challenge by Cantwell.

David Herd, with two, Law and Charltonscored in a 4-0 win while, down the road atTolka Park, Drums went down to Third Divi-sion Swindon Town.

After that, the games dried up. Wolves andCoventry played each other again, but thistime in Belfast Celtic’s ground and, later inthe month, St Mirren played Drums.

With the weather improving in England,clubs stayed at home to try to deal with thefixture backlog.

Their Irish counterparts did thesame, with improved bank

balances.The prioritising of friend-

lies did not go down well

with everyone, as this letter to the EveningHerald made clear.

It stated: “£40 — that was the disgraceful‘gate’ for Transport’s game with Cobh Ram-blers in the FAI Cup. And yet the big gunsof the League — Drumcondra, Shamrock Rov-ers etc — are counting the money taken fromtheir games with English teams.

“Shame on all soccer fans — they shouldknow that charity begins at home!

“Shame and disgrace on the FAI manage-ment committee also. They revel in the ill-gotten spoils without a thought of playingoff the backlog of fixtures caused by therecent bad weather. Money is not everything.Longford.”

The unnamed Longford reader was notalone as an opinion piece in the same paperby a KJ Kenealy made clear as he queriedthe eagerness to roll out the red carpet.

He wrote: “What must the people acrossChannel think of our clubs, whose own fix-ture list is in such a chaotic state and yetopen their grounds to them without makingthe slightest attempt to put their own housein order.”

ENDS ’WELL. . . Irish legend Noel Cantwell

(centre) with Manchester United team-mate Albert

Quixall after they won the 1963 FA Cup final

EVERYTHING PUT ON ICE . . . even the River Thames was frozen

FROZEN IN TIME . . . cars stuck on the streets of London during

the Big Freeze of 1963

1RM Monday, April 13, 2020 ............... 47

FRANK STAPLETONinsisted he is notfearing for his WorldCup hopes.

Stapleton was left outof Jack Charlton’s Ire-land squad for the mostrecent friendly againstthe USSR and had beensidelined from clubaction with Blackburnby a back injury.

But Stapleton said:“My chances of makingthe actual squad arethe same as they wereat the beginning of thisseason.

“I was omitted fromthe original squad forthe match against theSoviet Union and mylast international wasthe 1-1 draw with WestGermany in which Iscored.

“But the team thatplayed the Soviets wasan experimental one asfar as I was concernedwith Niall Quinn andDavid Kelly getting alook-in.

“Jack is slow to makechanges and he willbank on the playersthat have taken himinto the finals for thefirst time ever.

“I will be bitterly dis-appointed if I am notincluded in the 22-mansquad for Italy.

“I have missed thelast couple of gamesbecause of my backinjury but the club doc-tor said that all Ineeded was a little rest.

“I expect to play thisweekend in our lastleague match againstBrighton when a pointwill do us for the pro-motion play-offs.”

Meanwhile, the FAI hitback at Fifa in theongoing row about find-ing suitable accommo-dation in Sardinia forIreland’s first gameagainst England.

Charlton’s side weretold they cannot stay intheir preferred optionbecause their oppo-nents have alreadybooked in for the entiregroup stage.

Fifa had said they hadbeen simply beaten tothe chase but FAI gen-eral secretary Dr TonyO’Neill said: “We’vebeen on to Fifa aboutall this before and ithas taken five monthsof pretty high-levelnegotiations to end upwhere we started.

“We will have to askfor a special meeting ofFifa to sort it out onceand for all.”

Countdown to

SUNSPORT’S NEILO’RIORDAN continuesthe build-up toIreland v England atthe 1990 World Cup.

39DAYS TO GO

FROM DEUTSCHLAND FROM DEUTSCHLAND TO THE DÉISE COUNTY TO THE DÉISE COUNTY

German Dirk lovinglife in Kilmacthomas

HEINSIGHT

DIRK HEINEN has one of the mostimpressive playing CVs of any coach inIrish football.

Around Kilmacthomas, he is best known as‘Sandra’s husband’ and that suits him just fine.

But there are stories to be told, like how he faxedthrough forms from his local post office in 1999 tocomplete a move to Liverpool, only for the deal tofall through from third-party involvement.

Or how, after he retired, he was tiling his kitchenwhen an old pal in need of a favour got in touch,which led to one final Bundesliga appearance.

A call to Alan Reynolds to sound out whetherWaterford’s goalkeeping coach would be up for talk-ing to a reporter ends with the advice to ring Heinendirectly because he might find it easier to say no tothe manager.

Midway through our chat, Heinen admits he wasunsure whether or not to agree and, at the end ofmore than an hour of conversation, reveals it was hisfirst interview in English.

In any language, how a keeper with a Germanleague title and who played in a Champions Leaguequarter-final tie against Real Madrid ended up inrural Waterford is a story worth hearing.

It starts in 1994, a life-changing year for theCologne native. In March, he made his Bayer Leverk-usen debut.

His third match was the second leg of a Cup Win-ners’ Cup quarter-final tie against Benfica.

Leverkusen led 2-0, trailed 3-2 and went 4-3 uponly to concede again late on to lose on away goals.

Their exit may well have been described as heart-breaking. Heinen found out the true meaning of thatin August. His sister Elke passed away aged 38.

Suddenly, the wealth he was accumulating throughhis burgeoning career did not seem so important. Itis an outlook which he has maintained to this day.

Heinen, now 49, said: “I like living in Ireland andraising the children here because I feel life meanssomething.

“It’s not about driving a Mercedes or a Porsche, youcan go into the pub in your wellies and everyoneknows and talks to each other.

“I’m not saying it’s perfect but it’s a good environ-ment. Some professionals miss the spotlight. I enjoyed

playing football and the financial aspect of it but inthe end I am happy the way I am, as Sandra’s hus-band and a father.”

In December 1994, Sandra was a Waterford teen-ager travelling around Germany.

In hindsight, he does not view meeting her at aBavarian resort where he had gone with his clubduring the Bundesliga winter break as a coincidence.

Heinen recalled: “Our only star player was RudiVoller. Some Irish and Scottish people recognisedhim. I told Sandra I was the physio.”

That ensured he knew her interest in him wasgenuine.

Hearing Sandra talk about her religious upbringing,being schooled by nuns, Heinen resolved to find outmore about God so they would have something incommon.

He said: “Life is a circle. We are born and we haveto die. Since I met Sandra, I have had joy and lovein my heart so even if we have to die this is some-thing good.

“I believe God gave this to us and I believe there issomething coming after life. In the end, it’s only abelief but I strongly believe in it.”

His spiritual journey was accelerated by attending aprivate church together with club-mate Paulo Sergio,a World Cup winner with Brazil.

Things were good football-wise too. He took Rudi-ger Vollborn’s place in the Leverkusen team as theveteran struggled to adapt to the new back-pass rule.

He and Sandra married in 1996 and, in 1997, Lev-erkusen finished second in the league — their highest-ever finish — and qualified for the Champions Leaguefor the first time

They reached the last eight after finishing level onpoints with a Monaco side featuring Thierry Henry,Fabien Barthez and David Trezeguet.

Against Real, they drew 1-1 at home and lost 3-0in the Bernabeu. The names he throws at theWaterford players when they ask about his career

By NEILO’RIORDANCHIEF SPORTS WRITER

FEELING BLUES . . . Heinen is now working

as goalkeeping coach with Waterford

44 ............... Sunday, May 3, 2020 1RM

FROM DEUTSCHLAND FROM DEUTSCHLAND TO THE DÉISE COUNTY TO THE DÉISE COUNTY are greeted with blank expressions. He joked: “I tellthem I played against Clarence Seedorf and they ask,‘Who is Clarence Seedorf?’”

With Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann around thesame age, international recognition was difficult atyouth level, never mind senior grade, but approachingthe FAI after marrying an Irishwoman was neverconsidered.

He said: “Goalkeepers were never a problem forIreland, you had Shay Given.

“Even though I was only four, I remembered the1974 World Cup, Sepp Maier and his blue jersey,that’s what inspired me.”

But a career which had been on an upward curvesuffered a series of setbacks.

Days before the 1998-99 season began, he fracturedhis skull in a friendly when an opponent fell on himas he came for a ball into the box.

Having played 99 league games over the three pre-vious campaigns, he played none that term.

The three-year deal he was given when injured wasa vote of confidence but the ultimate one was teamselection and Polish No 1 Adam Matysek — signed tocover his absence — was preferred when he recovered.

A move to Liverpool in 1999 would have been awelcome solution. Sander Westerveld was beingbrought in to replace the departing David James butHeinen was relishing the challenge and fresh startand the transfer was reported as a done deal.

Heinen recalled: “I was sending all of the formsfrom the post office and I was excited. My old team-mate Erik Meijer was there and so were DidiHamann and Markus Babbel, whom I knew from theGerman underage teams.

“All of Sandra’s brothers were big Liverpool fans sothey were excited too.

“All of a sudden the move was off. Liverpool saidan agent had offered me for €300,000, but he was notmy agent and Leverkusen’s price was €1.5million.”

He is philosophical about it now and took it in themanner in which it was intended when, after donat-ing some balls to Kilmacthomas AFC recently, byway of thanks he was presented with a 1999 Liver-pool shirt with his name and No 1 on the back.

In January 2000, he joined Eintracht Frankfurt butthey suffered relegation in his first full season. After ayear in the second division, he moved to Denizlispor.

He said: “Some people had bad experiences in Turkey,especially goalkeepers if they played badly and weren’tpaid but I saved a penalty in my first game.”

They reached the last 16 of the Uefa Cup, beaten byeventual winners Porto who, under Jose Mourinho,won the Champions League the following year.

The unfolding Iraq War, its uncomfortable proxim-ity and the fact Sandra was alone with their youngkids Cormac and Kylie in a compound much of thetime prompted a return to Germany.

With Timo Hildebrand at Stuttgart, first-team foot-ball was going to be hard to come by and a snappedAchilles tendon ensured he did not feature in their2006-07 title win.

He recalled: “I didn’t play but I got a medal and Ifelt part of the team. And I make the point at Water-ford that if you have a lazy goalkeeper as No 2,nobody can progress.”

He hung up his gloves and the family settled inIreland, after a couple of interruptions.

Thomas Schlieck rang in December 2007, not onlyto wish Heinen a happy 37th birthday but to tell himcover was needed at Arminia Bielefeld where he wasgoalkeeping coach.

Heinen said: “I said I had done no training, onlymy son taking shots at me in the back garden, buthe rang back in January.

“They needed someone for a fewweeks but I had to sign for sixmonths. So I went over and,strangely, it was against Bielefeldthat I fractured my skull. The player,Jorg Bohme, who had injured mewas now a team-mate. He apol-ogised again and it felt like Ihad come full circle.”

Not quite. After fourmatches on the bench, hereturned to Waterfordand was doing somehome improvementwhen a fresh injurycrisis at Bielefeldprompted another SOScall, with manager MichaelFrontzeck unwilling to relyon a rookie in a relegation

fight. Heinen flew from Cork to London to Frankfurtto Hannover, where they were playing the local sidethe next day. Sure enough, the starting keeper RowenFernandez went down injured in the first half.

Heinen laughed: “I said, ‘I can’t go on’. I was sotired from travelling but I had to. I just tried to focuson three or four things and told the defenders, ‘Don’texpect me to come out for crosses or corners’,because my timing was gone.”

They drew 2-2 and ultimately stayed up. Heinenrecalled: “I was brought in for doping control andwhen the manager was asked by the media where Ihad come from he said ‘a sheep farm’ so this was allover the newspapers.”

Thereafter, Heinen slipped back into relative ano-nymity back in Ireland where facilities and equipmentdo not always measure up to his home country.

Alarmed at seeing his local club trying to getthrough a training session with three balls and no bibs,he asked: “If you are playing an eight v eight, how canyou remember everyone who is on your team?”

Arrangements were better on the FAI’s EmergingTalent Coach programme which he joined in 2008,although he has concerns about players going to

England before completing their education.He became Waterford’s goalkeeping coach in

2017 and has enjoyed working with the likesof Ian McLoughlin and Brian Murphy.

As well as trying to improve those withwhom he works as players, Heinen tries toimpart some of the life lessons he has

learned along the way.He said: “Right now, everyone is try-

ing to clear their garage or attic butit is also the time to clear the headand realise what’s most important

in life. I meet old team-mates andthey are divorced or they havegambling problems because itcan be tough after football.

“I say that to young players,it’s important that they do not

just see themselves as footballers,because then they will feel they

have nothing left afterwards.”In Kilmacthomas, Heinen has

everything he needs.

You can go to the pub in

your wellies

LET’S BE FRANK . . . Heinen in action for Frankfurt in 2000 and (above, l-r) the ex-

keeper beside a picture of himself in Leverkusen’s stadium, Heinen with wife Sandra

and Sandra with children Kylie and Cormac

NET GAINS . . . top German keepers Kahn

and Lehmann

1RM Sunday, May 3, 2020 ............... 45