Former teammates praise 'winner' Heary

On Sunday afternoon current and former players of both Bohemians and Shelbourne turned out to take part in a tribute game for one of the League of Ireland’s most decorated players and a gentleman of the game – Owen Heary.

Heary played at the top level of Irish football for 20 years, won seven league titles, two FAI Cups and a League Cup. Now in a coaching role at Bohs he is revered as one of the finest players ever to have taken to a League of Ireland pitch.

With the turnout of players including the likes of Stephen and Declan Geoghegan, Glen Crowe, Jospeh Ndo, Ollie Cahill, Stuart Byrne and Jason Byrne it was obvious to see the kind of esteem in which Heary is held.

Speaking to Extratime.ie after the game Jason Byrne cited Heary as one of the reasons he made the switch from Bray to Shels in 2003.

“He was one of the reasons I went to Shels to be honest. I looked up to him as a great pro and said ‘if I can be half as professional as him I’ll have a chance in this game’ and lucky enough I went on to have a successful career as well.”

Byrne, who made 122 appearances for Shels in his time there with Heary, described him as someone that other player would aspire to.

“He’s a winner. He’s a leader on and off the pitch. He’s someone you aspire to because he gets you going every match and that’s why I managed to win many trophies with him.”

For much of his Shelbourne days Heary played in a back four in front of Welsh goalkeeper Steve Williams. Williams was the goalkeeper for Shels on Sunday and spoke of how happy he was when Heary once told him that he felt he was a goalkeeper he could trust.

“When I sat down with Owen after playing with him for a few years and he told me that he actually trusted me as a goalkeeper; that was a massive accolade because we needed to work as a back five.”

Williams, who lined out with Heary for that famous tie with Deportivo La Coruna in 2004, highlighted how good the Dubliner was as a right-back.

“I played with Owen for eight seasons so it was for most of my career. In terms of a right-back he was probably up there with the best I’ve ever played with. Every week you knew what he was going to do and that he was going to give his all and that, for me, is an ultimate player in your team.

“He was always the first one to tell you if you were doing something wrong, he’d be shouting and roaring but it was all for the benefit of the team.”

Mark Rutherford, who was a member of the Shels squad when Heary was just breaking into the team, spoke of how difficult he found it to play against the right-back when Heary was playing for Home Farm.

“I always remember when he was only a young lad, playing for Home Farm, and I thought he was a good player back then. Funny enough, he always used to bring the best out in me and I brought the best out in him. Even then when he was only a teenager I could see those leadership qualities in him as well.”