In years to come Rathkenny folk will no doubt mull over David Heery's GAA travels in the comfort of their clubhouse. It all started with Collon when still in his teens, before a move to Rathkenny. St. Colmcille's were his next stop and finally a harmonious reunion with the red and blacks writes Gordon Manning. However it was not all as simple as it sounds. Indeed every club David played for refused to sign his transfer request form. He was a wanted man. Eventually though he made it back to where he always wanted to be. The son of a 1949 Meath All-Ireland winner Seamus. The prodigal son who had returned home to Rathkenny. For as he says himself: "Jaysus, I certainly went through the mill with transfers in my time." David's Rathkenny story starts way back in the early 1980's when he played his minor football with Collon in Louth. "I was a border case and there was big controversy over me for years and all that craic because our border here is with Collon. I played my minor football up in Collon and then I was illegal more or less but after giving up football for about three years I eventually started playing again with Rathkenny in 1984. "Barney Allen and some of the other lads at Rathkenny kept asking me to play for them. They were so persistent I did and anyway it was the club my father had played with also." David, who is in his first term as chairman of the club, made an immediate impact in Rathkenny and in his first year he won two county championships. "Rathkenny were in the semi-final of the under-21 championship at the time I joined and we won that to progress to the final. We were playing Seneschalstown and Walterstown and they were the favourites to win it out. Rathkenny were joined with Castletown at the time but anyway as it turned out I scored the winning point that day in the final. It was a brilliant occasion. "I also managed to win the junior title the same year with Rathkenny. I played midfield and that really was a great achievement to win the championship and get us up to intermediate level where we have been pretty much ever since. Winning that junior championship really stands out in my memory because I was so young and we had a great team with a good mix of younger lads and older lads. I was one of the youngest players at the time and then got a run with the Meath juniors and a few chances with the seniors." A talented footballer, like his father Seamie, David was a mainstay in the Rathkenny side for a number of years until in the late 1980's he handed in a transfer request to join St. Colmcille's. At the time he was living in Mornington and although training with St. Colmcille's he was still playing with the red and blacks. The travelling up and down to Rathkenny was naturally laborious and as St. Colmcille's were closer to where he lived he decided to move. He was building a house closer to Rathkenny at the time and only planned to stay with St. Colmcille's for a year before moving back. However Rathkenny didn't want to let him go as he was such an asset to the club and it took him almost three years for his request to be granted. "I had started to build my house at the time and I remember at a Meath County Board meeting one night Fintan Ginnity wanted to know how I was getting on with the construction. He just turned around and asked: "How far on is this man with his house? Sure Barney Allen stood up and he said: "God I went out of my way to see how Davey was getting on with his house the other day Fintan and wasn't there smoke coming out of the chimney." Barney is so witty like that, but anyway that was me gone for another year, no transfer. Eventually the following year I got away to St. Colmcille's. His transfer wheeling and dealing did not end there though. After a successful year with St. Colmcille's they then refused to allow him back to Rathkenny. "I was only meant to be going for one year but then St. Colmcille's wanted to hold on to me for another twelve months and they wouldn't sign me back to Rathkenny so I ended up playing for them for two years. I was playing with the likes of Bernard Flynn and Bobby O'Malley up there. It was a great experience to play alongside those players and it was also senior football." Following his two-year stint with St. Colmcille's the prodigal son returned to Rathkenny and has remained present ever since. He played a few years with the intermediates, became player-selector for a few more and then this year was elected chairman. The 39-year-old continues to play of course, spearheading the Rathkenny junior C attack and therefore boasts the rather dormant title of player-chairman. "I get plenty of slagging from the lads about that one alright. I guess I was letting myself in for it when I decided to play with the juniors but the slagging is all in good form and just a bit of craic." It was no great surprise to Gaels inRathkenny when David was appointed chairman of the club. For years he has done a colossal amount of work in and around the place. He sells lotto tickets, helps out with fundraising and does all the little things that have to be done to run a successful club. "Larry Murray is after doing a great job for the last six years as chairman and he wanted to get out for a while so I took over. I was voted in at the AGM and hopefully I will stick around for next year. You have your good times and your bad times with players and training and what not. Sometimes it would break your heart but sure it is all part and parcel of it. I am lucky in a lot of ways because I get good co-operation from people in the club and have a good committee. The likes of Larry Murray and Edmund Curtis have been a great assistance all year and helped me along." Of course no story about David Heery would be complete without a mention of his father Seamie, who won an All-Ireland with Meath in 1949. It was Seamie's first year on the county team that season, and at the age of 22 he was one of the youngest members on the panel. "Yes my dad won an All-Ireland with Meath in 1949. He played for Rathkenny and the North Meath amalgamation in those days. He was right half-back on the Meath team in '49 and was captain then in 1951 when Mayo beat them in the All-Ireland final. He was finished pretty much after 1951 because he had picked up a bad injury to his back and had to give it up." Although missing out on all of those games, the good-humoured chairman has heard all about his fathers playing days with the county team. "He is a great man for the stories about all the fantastic Meath players he played with and in particular the matches with Louth in 1949 before they went on to win the All-Ireland. I mean there were about 90,000 people in Croke Park for All-Ireland finals in those days. There were fans in along the sideline and all, an awesome crowd to play in front of." Like his father, David too pulled on the famous green and gold jersey on a number of occasions and was part of a Meath side that lost an All-Ireland final. "I got a good few chances with the Meath juniors and had a few trials with the Meath seniors also. I was on the Meath junior panel for three years or so and was a sub the day we lost the All-Ireland final in 1986 against Cork. As for the senior trials I was up against the likes of Liam Hayes and Gerry McEntee at midfield and it was hard to compete with those boys to be honest." Of present day Meath players, Rathkenny still have one in Donal Curtis. The two-time All-Ireland winner has served club and county well in recent times and is helping keep the small North Meath parish on the football map. "It has been a great achievement for us to have Donal on the Meath team for the last few years. We missed him for league matches but it was a great boost when he was there for the championship games. It is fantastic to have another Rathkenny man on a successful Meath team." This year another former All-Ireland winner, Liam Smith, coached Rathkenny and in only his first year he has made a big contribution to the club. "He has really concentrated on ball work and you can see the improvement in a lot of the players. He has been a very good trainer." As for the future of the club David believes that Rathkenny have been very unlucky in recent years in the intermediate championship and that success is not far off. Had they had the rub of the green in recent times they may well have competed for intermediate honours. After all, the promised land of senior football is where this club want to be in the next few years. "We are always there or thereabouts every other year in the championship. I mean this year we should have won all our games, apart from the Carnaross match admittedly, but things just didn't work for us on the day. We should have been top of the pile but we just didn't get the luck sometimes." Luck, is of course an integral part of winning any championship, in any sport, in any country. However Rathkenny will disregard luck, and instead just hope that their very own prodigal son can lead them to the promised land. But whatever you do, don't ask him about transfers! Tweet

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