An assessment of Gearóid Hegarty's performance in the All-Ireland final from Brendan Maher and Michael Duignan referenced "a player for the big day", with a hurling intelligence that sets his apart as one of the best of his generation.
Hegarty scored 1-05 in a player-of-the-match performance as Limerick completed a hat-trick of senior titles at Croke Park on Sunday. After a somewhat below-par showing in the semi-final win over Galway, the 27-year-old certainly took the game to Kilkenny, firing in a brilliant goal after four minutes.
Maher, speaking on the RTÉ GAA podcast, heaped praise on Hegarty's contribution in the decider and, in particular, his decision making on the field of play.
"I'd love to see his heat map of his movement. He's probably the most economic mover, if that makes sense. He takes his break. he's not always moving. The timing of his runs for puck-outs is impeccable. He's not that fella that's always really eager and makes a run; makes it too early and then he's standing still when he receives it. All the stuff that goes on, that isn't seen, that's what makes him so good."
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In drilling down more, the former Tipperary star added: "He's really good at ghosting. You'll see him trotting and think he's not interested but he knows where he is going. He's trying to find those pockets of space.
"If you look at where he scored his points from, he loves picking up the ball on his '65, he loves to score from distance. He doesn't need a big wind-up; he can do it on the run. Massive man, massive pair of hands. His pick up for the goal was phenomenal without breaking stride. He's a player for the big day judging by his performance in the last three finals.
"It wasn't running for him always during the year but the cream will rise to the top."
In standing tall when it's need most, Michael Duignan said: "He's been absolutely brilliant on the big day and that's what differentiates him. He does the odd, little thing he shouldn't do but you could put a lot of hurlers into that category.
"The skill level, the hooks, the flicks, he's a huge man. He got 1-05, he could have got another couple, he assisted on a few. I watched his running off the ball to get into key positions, to create one-on-ones for the puck-outs, it was just so impressive."
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