Tipperary All-Ireland winning star confirms he won't be involved with Liam Cahill's side in 2025
Tipperary have been hit with a number of retirements as Liam Cahill looks to turn things around in his third year in charge after a 2024 season that never took off.
Barry Heffernan has confirmed that he is taking an extended break from senior inter-county hurling.
The Tipperary double All-Ireland winner, who only played twice this year under Liam Cahill, has decided against making himself available for the 2025 season.
Heffernan told the Nenagh Guardian he was “extremely proud and grateful” to be approached to join the Tipperary panel but couldn’t do so due to “personal commitments.”
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The 29 year old started Tipperary’s final championship game against Clare, so was very much in Cahill’s plans - having recovered from a ruptured cruciate knee ligament sustained in 2022.
The Éire Og Nenagh club man, who made his Tipperary debut back in 2016 and is an All-Ireland minor winner, wished the Tipp players and manager Cahill well in the season ahead.
Heffernan (29) was in Kenya in November as part of an program entitled, ‘Warriors for Humanity - Plant the Planet Games,’ organised by the charity Self Help Africa and Alan Kerins.
50 inter-county players raised over €10,000 each to take part in the initiative, in association with the GPA.
Heffernan wasn’t named as part of a 45-man Tipperary panel recently released by Cahill and is understood to have stayed on in Africa.
His size and physqiue made him an integral part of the Tipp defence, and allowed him to slot into any one of the six defensive positions with this versatility invaluable when it came to man marking jobs.
In an era defined by the sheer size of the Limerick four-in-a-row side, Heffernan is regarded as a major loss to an inexperienced Tipp steam
Tipperary have been hit by a number of retirements in the off season with Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher and Dan McCormack deciding to walk away, and Cathal Barrett left out of the squad.
This means that only five starters remain from Michael Ryan’s 2016 All-Ireland winning Tipperary side: the McGraths - Noel and John - Ronan Maher, Michael Breen and Séamus Kennedy.
Kennedy is currently recovering from a ruptured cruciate knee ligament, while Noel McGrath has committed to a 17th season with the county.
There are now six remaining starters from the 2019 All-Ireland final win over Kilkenny, five and a half years ago, in which Heffernan was named at number three.
They are the McGrath brothers, Breen, Kennedy, Maher and Jason Forde.
Kilkenny have six starters from that day still playing: Eoin Murphy, Huw Lawlor, Paddy Deegan, TJ Reid, Adrian Mullen and John Donnelly.
Tipperary open their league campaign away to Galway on Sunday, January 26.
This is Cahill's third year in charge. Tipp didn't get out of the Munster Championship group in 2024, while they lost out to Galway in the 2023 All-Ireland quarter-final after a promising provincial campaign.
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