Limerick hurler Gearoid Hegarty joined Wednesday's OTB AM after Kilkenny legend Tommy Walsh named him his hurler of the year.
While Hegarty is now an integral part of the team that won the All-Ireland hurling championship, it was in football that he got his inter-county start.
"I was lucky enough that when I was 19, John Bruder asked me to join the Limerick senior footballers. To be honest, I was absolutely nowhere near making the hurling team at the time so I said I’d love to," Hegarty said.
"I wouldn’t be where I am today without football. It exposed me to proper strength and conditioning and showed me what it actually takes to become an inter-county player.
"Without that exposure when I was 19 or 20, I absolutely wouldn’t be where I am today. I owe football a lot in terms of where I’ve got to."
The 26-year-old also played both Fitzgibbon and Sigerson cup at UL in his college days.
"I played more Sigerson than I did Fitzgibbon actually because at that age I was way more focused on my football," he said.
Hegarty explained some of the key things he took away from his experience on the Limerick football panel.
"Every inter-county football team trains tough, every single player on an inter-county team trains five or six times a week and they’re looking after themselves in terms of their sleep and nutrition," he said.
"It opened my eyes in terms of what it actually takes to be on an inter-county panel."
In 2015, John Kiely asked Hegarty to join the Limerick u-21 hurlers and the rest as they say is history.
"Hurling was always my first love," Hegarty said.
"I was always more of a hurler and there’s photos of me when I’m barely able to stand but I have a hurley in my hand."
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