Fatherhood and perspective fuelling evergreen Healy

As one of the more experienced players in the Wicklow set-up, that longevity has brought greater perspective for Dean Healy.

The 33-year-old starred in the Garden County's gutsy Leinster defeat to Dublin last month, with manager Oisin McConville hailing him a "special" player.

In superb form, the St Patrick’s clubman is playing with a freedom that comes from a balanced lifestyle.

He enjoys football, but he knows it’s place in the greater scheme of things. A father to Fídh (4) and Aifric (15 months), personal events have shaped his perspective.

Eighteen months ago his partner Jennifer was given the news she had Hodgkin lymphoma. Six months of chemotherapy followed while pregnant with Aifric, navigating chopping waters with a young family to raise.

"It just makes you view life differently and as I said it just makes me appreciate her and my family a lot more," he told RTÉ Sport.

"We were extremely fortunate in terms of her diagnosis. I remember spending every second Thursday up in St Vincent's and I can't speak highly enough of the staff.

"When you're sitting there among people, is a Wicklow loss really that important? Jennifer was pregnant at the time with Aifric throughout the course of the treatment so we had that to focus more on that than actually the treatment itself."

It was June 2023 when Healy decided that perhaps it was time to step away from the inter-county bubble. A surprise seven-point win over Limerick was secured in what was effectively a Tailteann Cup dead rubber.

Healy posted three points from play, but the decision was made earlier in the week. Jennifer hadn’t yet been diagnosed, but he had a sense that the time was right.

A dozen years after making his debut under Mick O’Dwyer, he shook hands with the players after the game and felt that was that. It was time for a change.

Healy: "In the last few years personal performances mean very little to me"

"I did honestly believe that I was done. I was driving home the Thursday night before the game and I remember ringing her as I generally would from training.

"I was consigned to stepping away and she was like just wait till you get home. When I arrived home, she was pregnant and there was an immense joy.

As it transpired she was actually due in Vincent's the next day to get the lump that she had in her neck biopsied.

So all of a sudden we had this immense joy and then the next morning she was up in Vincent's. We knew when you're getting called in for something. There would be good news over the phone."

It was then they were hit like a ton of bricks with the diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma and the real possibility of termination of the pregnancy.

"People think you're strong for breaking tackles in Gaelic football. The situation Jennifer found herself in, having a little girl to look after and still pregnant you think you love someone and then you see how strong a person can be and it just goes to show... I'm in awe of her every day."

Naturally football faded into the background. The weekly visits for chemo started, but the worst fears were allayed when Aifric arrived safely into the world. Jennifer is now a year post-treatment and will return to St Vincent’s every six months for the next five years.

In February of last year he returned to the Wicklow fold in some style, scoring 1-02 in a player of the match performance as the Garden County defeated Westmeath in the Leinster preliminary round.

His importance to Wicklow is as strong as ever, but Healy’s outlook is different.

"When I'm not training, my full focus is on my family. All this comes back into that free pass that I'm talking about.

"I don't really feel a lot of pressure in terms of matches or anything like that just simply because I know what I've given is what I have given and I don't think I can give too much more. But I'll see what I can squeeze out of it."

Wicklow’s "failure" to reach a Division 4 final – they finished a point behind second-placed Limerick – was easily contextualised by Healy.

Had they progressed to Croke Park, he would have missed Fídh’s first ballet show in Bray.

"Wicklow football is massive for me and everything that goes with it," he says, "but at the end of the day, do I want to be remembered for being a father or do I want to be remembered for being a footballer?

"That's where you have to look at things. I remember sitting in Bray and looking at the ballet performance and she's only four years of age. I feel like I'm ready for that part of life.

Healy with daughter Fídh after representing Leinster in last year's interpros

"It's very hard to describe when you're not a parent, but the pride that you get looking at your own children do simple things in terms of their development."

Football remains a passion and an escape. He’s doesn’t want people getting carried away with the nine-point defeat to Dublin.

People outside the camp may have been surprised with the gritty display, but the poor conversion rate that day has been discussed within the group. The energy, however, needs to be replicated when they travel to take on a buoyant Offaly later today.

"I think it's important for Wicklow football that that energy is maintained especially coming into this Tailteann Cup. Offaly are coming in off the back of quite a successful league campaign, they've got a massive lift off Mickey Harte going in as joint-manager and were probably unfortunate not to beat Meath."

Whatever way the season turns out for Wicklow, Healy won’t spend too long fretting over it. Jennifer, Fídh and Aifric will be there however long the journey lasts. As for the praise coming his way since returning to action, that too will wash over.

"In the last few years personal performances mean very little to me. I get a little bit more exposure simply because I have been around that a little bit longer and it's easier for people to grab on to the fact that I am a little bit older.

"Whatever is going on in your life, it's (football) just a different avenue in order to actually express different feelings."

Watch the Ulster Football Championship final, Armagh v Donegal, on Saturday from 5pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1

Watch The Saturday Game from 9.40pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to updates from around the country on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1

Watch the Leinster Football Championship final, Meath v Louth, on Sunday from 3.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1

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