Comeback king Heslin in dreamland

John Heslin admitted he never believed he would find himself back in a Westmeath jersey lifting the Delaney Cup after returning from retirement little more than a week before Sunday’s dramatic Leinster senior football final triumph over Dublin at Croke Park.

Heslin, who came off the bench to kick a superb two-pointer in extra-time and win crucial possession around midfield, described the achievement as “Dreamland” after Westmeath claimed only the second Leinster title in the county’s history.

“I think Dreamland for me, it's just unbelievable. I'm delighted for all the people of Westmeath," he said.

Revealing how he decided to return to the side, Heslin added: “Mark McHugh rang me and Jamie Gonoud, he deserves a bit of credit for it as well. And when they had the injuries and things like that, just said, would you come back in and do a bit with the lads? And that's all it was at the start. And sure, just the way things went, I found myself in the 26 this week. And the support and the texts from people all over Westmeath and even outside of Westmeath people were texting and saying, fair play and best of luck.

“And I suppose I just wanted to come in today to encourage the lads on and they were brilliant, they've been brilliant the last few games and I'm just over the moon for them. And I'm just the luckiest person to have been involved in it, to be honest.”

Having previously drawn a line under his inter-county career, Heslin said the entire experience had come out of nowhere.

“Look, I'll be honest, I didn't think it would happen. Obviously, I retired, but, you know, I saw a few of the lads retiring. It's funny because I still play with the club and I thank my club (St Loman's, Mullingar) for the training that they would have been giving me because I was obviously trained to a pretty decent standard to be able to come back in and mix it with the lads," he remarked.

“But honestly, a month ago, I never thought that this would happen. This was way off the radar for me. So I'm just thrilled. But I suppose it would be remiss of me not to say about the lads that for the last couple of games, when a phone call came from Mark, he said to me, do you have any questions? And I had no questions because I had full faith in the lads. After what I saw in the games against Meath, Kildare and Longford, and in the league, I just thought they had an immense energy, immense belief about themselves.

“And if I could just come in and give a little bit of a boost, that was all. And sure, look, the rest is history. We're Leinster champions, which I never thought I'd be saying. Obviously as I had retired. I had the belief once upon a time. I had the belief a few weeks ago when Mark rang me, and I'm just thrilled.”

Heslin revealed he felt a fresh excitement returning to the Westmeath set-up.

“I'll be honest with you, it was funny. It was like my wife said to me, jeez, you're buzzing for training tomorrow. And at a certain stage of your career, buzzing for training, it's a different type of buzz. But I was buzzing for training, and I was nervous going up to it. A good set of nerves," he said.

“I went in training for the weekend, and all the lads welcomed me back in, and they were all delighted to see me. It was great. We played a bit of an in-house game, and things went well. So they said, look, you did all right there. We'll keep you around.”

The veteran forward also thanked the Westmeath supporters for the reception he received when introduced during the final.

“I just thank the people from Westmeath. They've been unreal to me throughout my whole career. And as I said, when I came back in, the text messages I got, and I'll never be able to thank everyone individually. Of course you won't, but if they hear this or whatever, I just thank them immensely. And fair play to them for travelling and supporting, and I hope it surely was a day for them to remember," he remarked.

Heslin said the experience of preparing for a final as an impact substitute rather than a guaranteed starter allowed him to enjoy the occasion in a completely different way.

“I mean, it was brilliant for me to be able to prepare for this game because I didn't know whether I was going to play five minutes or no minutes. In the past, for the last 14 years when I was playing here, you know you're going to have to give it everything for 70 whole minutes, and you might have a free last minute," he revealed.

“It was a very different preparation for me, and I got to really actually enjoy it, which is a very unique thing. I was warming up on the line, and the lads were playing brilliant in the second half. And I was like, jeez, Mark, don't change anything here! It's going really well. But no, I just came on, and I had to get to the pace of it very quickly. And I think I got to some of the pace anyway. As I said, it was a great team effort, and that's the point. If I could get the ball and give it off to the lads and get in amongst it, and we came out the right side of it. That's what it was about," he added.

Heslin also reflected on the players he shared dressing rooms with over the years, many of whom never got the chance to win a Leinster medal. His former team mate Kevin Maguire, on media duty in Croke Park, was thrilled to see Heslin return and predicted he would score a two-pointer.

“Look, my heart goes out to all the lads that I soldiered with for so many years, because they weren't in the privileged position to win. And I know all of the lads that I played with, none of them would begrudge anyone. They'd be just super delighted. And people asked me two weeks ago before I was in, what do you think of the team? And I said, I really hope they win. And I'd be delighted for them," he said.

“I know all the lads I played with would be delighted for them. And I'm representing them as well. “Kev is my neighbour, and he's had a great crack over the last 10 days, even a few weeks ago when this was kind of coming in under the radar. So, I'm just representing all the lads I played with as well here today.”

Asked about his future after McHugh joked that he could not retire again, Heslin smiled.

“Well, I said to Mark, would it be bad if I came and just said I'm retiring? I'm joking. The phone call came at the right time for me. I'm studying as well at the minute, and my lectures actually finished yesterday. The schedule's freeing up a bit," he said.

“But, look, we won't worry about next year yet. We have a bit of celebrating to do. And then we're into the All-Ireland Series as well. So, it's something to look forward to. I can't wait to get back to Mullingar and see the smiles on everyone's faces from Westmeath. The celebrations are going to be special," he added.