He loves his hurling.
Keith Higgins thrown his lot in with the Mayo hurlers instead of the footballers for this year’s League campaign. He’s spent years balancing both codes, but hurling has always been his first love and he’s delighted to be able to give an exclusive commitment to them at the moment.
Higgins is more renowned for his exploits with the Yew County’s footballers. One of the most tigerish corner backs in the game, he’s the life and soul of a Mayo team who have plenty of that.
Fiery, charismatic and passionate, the 33-year-old is one of the main faces of Mayo football and he has been for quite some time. Hurling has always been his number one, however, and despite Mayo enduring the numbers struggles that most weaker counties endure, he’s enjoying this league campaign more than he did previous ones with the footballers.
His father was a Galway man and it was from his influence that Higgins’ grá for the small ball grew.
“It really came from my father I suppose. He’s a Galway man originally, he moved down to Mayo and they kind of got hurling going down in Ballyhaunis there in the late 80s.
“When we were growing up, it was always Galway hurling games instead of Mayo football games. It’s from his background more than anything.”
Given the success of his county’s footballers, in comparison to the hurlers, it’s no surprise that he’s they’ve been his main priority, but his love for hurling has never weaned.
“It was more so playing hurling rather than football when I was younger and it kept going that way. I’ve had to concentrate a bit more on the football given the way things are in Mayo.”
He plays as a forward in hurling, and enjoys the freedom of that role. Mayo football folk are famed for their fanatical tendencies, and he’s enjoying the reduced pressure in hurling games.
“It’s great, you don’t have to spend 70 minutes running around after somebody, you can make your own runs. I’ve always played in the forwards for the hurling so it’s a completely different dynamic to the football.
“The last few years, it’s been a struggle to get any sort of game time with the hurlers. This year, I just took a break from the football to get to all the hurling games and I’m just enjoying it.
“It’s completely different. It’s not as much pressure as Division One football when it comes to the crowd and that. It’s refreshing in a way.
“When it comes to the games, there’s not as much pressure from supporters. You’re not going to have 10 or 15 thousand at a league game, so from my point of view, you can enjoy it a bit more.
“For me, coming from where I was with the footballers and the pressure in the league the last few years, it’s just all about enjoying it and that’s the main thing for me.”
He’s unsure of his plans for the championship yet, but when he makes up his mind, we’ll be the first to find out.
“I met Stephen at the start of the year. I just told him I wanted a break from the football for a while, he was 100% with that and to be honest there hasn’t been a huge amount of conversation since. We’ll see how this weekend goes, and after that we’ll sit down and have a chat. I can’t give you any breaking news, so give me a call back next week and we’ll see what the situation is.”
You can listen to the Higgins interview and much more from Thursday’s GAA Hour Hurling Show right here.
