THE news shocked and saddened everyone at a club that binds together the close-knit community of Ballyvoy on the north coast of Antrim.
Joe Hegarty was ever-present at Carey Faughs. His dad Michael’s little right-hand man at training sessions when he was manager, the hurling-mad six-year-old was the club’s number one supporter.
Joe would have been in his element when Carey beat Oisins Glenariffe to win the Antrim Intermediate Championship 1-19 to 0-15 earlier this month.
“Wee Joe 26 always with us,” read the banner the team unfurled with pride after they received the cup.
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“We wanted to win a trophy, we wanted to do Joe and his family proud and give them something to be happy about...” Antrim champions Carey Faughs carry torch for Joe Hegarty into Ulster Hurling Championship clash
“Joe was our top supporter,” says skipper Shea Hunter.
“He was always there over the last two years when Michael was the manager and wee Joe would have been down at the club at all our trainings. Ah, it was so tragic for them all and it was difficult for everybody at the club. There was a lot of emotion when we won the final. You try not to get too focussed on it, but it’s hard.
“What happened drove us on this year, no doubt about it. We wanted to win a trophy, we wanted to do Joe and his family proud and give them something to be happy about. Hopefully we did that.
“We tried to deal with it as a community and I think that showed Carey is a special club. The way we were able to get through it… It meant a lot to everyone this year. It shows you what a club is all about.”
Team mentor Darren McVeigh added: “Winning was very special because of Joe passing away and there was a lot of emotion when we won the final.”
Michael Hegarty returned to help out with the team towards the end of the championship.
“He came in and he gave the boys a wee bit of a lift,” adds Darren.
“He was in the management team in 2021 when he won the intermediate championship and Joe would have been there all the time – the whole time.”
Tyrone champions Carrickmore – beaten by a puck of the sliothar in last year’s Ulster Intermediate final – await in the provincial quarter-final on Sunday. Carey hosted Carrickmore in their last venture into the provincial series back in 2021. The lost by five points but there wasn’t much between the teams and they hope for better this weekend.
“They have a bit more experience than us but we’re up for it,” says Hunter.
“It’s very open this year and everyone at our club is very excited for it. We’ll keep the heads down and prepare as best we can.
“We want to keep going as far as we can because playing in Ulster means everything to us.
“Especially because hurling is everything in our wee club. There’s no football round us. You can feel the buzz about the place.
“This year has been class, we had a brilliant season.
“We won the league and now we’ve won the championship… That’s never been done in Carey, or if it ever was done it must have been a good while ago! So we’re on the right road.
“The management has been next-level. It changed the way we played hurling, we took a different approach to it. It was physical, it’s always physical but it was technical – we ran with the ball more… We enjoyed playing that way and when you’re winning, the enjoyment comes from that as well.
Carrickmore have been to three finals but lost them all while Carey were Ulster champions in 2004, the inaugural year of the competition. They beat Derry’s Eoghan Rua 0-6 to 0-7 that day 20 years ago and Darren says they can do it again.
“They have it in them,” he said.
“The level they’ve gone to this year has been brilliant. They’ve become a more attacking team and I think they have it in them to go all the way although this game could be the game of the round.
“They got the better of us three years’ ago but I think the scoreline flattered them. We got a man sent off and it ran away from us. We’ll see what happens.”