An Irish striker is enjoying a new lease of life in the Scottish borders, writes EMMET MALONE, Soccer Correspondent
After more than a decade in England, it took a while for Irish striker Paul Heffernan to get to grips with some of Scotland’s keenest rivalries. A hat-trick a few weeks ago for Kilmarnock against Hearts made him a popular figure amongst Hibernian fans, but that is sure to change after this weekend’s Scottish Cup quarter-final on Sunday.
Wednesday’s 2-2 draw between the two sides in the SPL was their second stalemate this season and just a point separates them in the league after 29 games. However, the 31-year-old from Newtownmountkennedy, who has six goals in his last six games, is determined to add to that impressive tally against Pat Fenlon’s team. “As a striker you go through purple patches when everything drops for you,” he said yesterday.
“And I think when you’re in one, all you can do is hope that it goes on forever. Sunday’s going to be tough, though.
“There’s nothing between the teams as the results and table show. Pat Fenlon’s done a really good job there, they’re a much better side than they were last year, and maybe all that will decide it is home advantage which we intend to make work in our favour.”
There’s a distinctly Irish flavour to the whole thing. Fenlon’s opposite number, Kenny Shiels, is from Magherafelt and is steeped in the Irish League. Both managers have a number of Irish players to choose from, with Heffernan’s former Kilmarnock team-mate Tim Clancy now plying his trade at Hibs while Heffernan’s current strike partner is three-time senior international Cillian Sheridan.
Hardened professionals
“Tim’s typical of what Fenlon’s brought in,” he says, “hardened professionals. A lot of them are like him, lads who won’t shirk a challenge. It’ll be tight, no more than a goal in it either way but hopefully we’ll come out the right side of it.”
The Irishman, who left home to join Notts County at 17 and then had spells at Doncaster Rovers, Bristol City and Sheffield Wednesday, has enjoyed some of the best days of his career since heading to Rugby Park in 2011, with last year’s League Cup success helping to make up for some of the tougher times in England.
Being part of the win over Celtic in last year’s final was, he reckons, probably the highlight of his time in the game so far but actually more surprising for the Wicklow man was the semi when Kilmarnock took on Ayr United in a derby game that many supporters regarded as the real cup final.
His team-mate Garry Hay is a lifelong Kilmarnock supporter and he observed before the game: “There is a lot of dislike between the fans, without a religious side to it, it’s more of a general hatred.”
The scale of it took Heffernan, who can’t recall having heard of the club until he moved, by surprise and he still marvels with a laugh at the fact that Kilmarnock sold more tickets for the semi than they did for the final a few weeks later.
“But we’ve got a taste for the cups now,” he says enthusiastically. “The League Cup was brilliant, for me, for the fans, for the club . . . but the Scottish Cup is obviously a much bigger thing up here and it would be fantastic to get past Hibs and push on the to the final.”
Beyond that, the Irishman has a year to run on his current deal and three or four, he reckons, left as a player. “I love it up here and I’d like to stay on and then look at maybe doing a bit of coaching, I’m going to look at getting my badges,” he adds.
He laughs off a suggestion that perhaps he should have come to Scotland a little earlier: “I’ve had a really good career, I can’t complain and there’s certainly no point in looking back.
“I’m very happy up here. There’s a lot less games in Scotland compared with England. In the Championship or League One you can end up playing seven or eight times in a month. Up here it tends to be just the Saturday. I’m very happy to have another year at Kilmarnock.”
They way he’s playing these days, they must be happy as well.
