James Heffernan (1925 - 21 March 2013) was an Irish sportsman. He played hurling with his local club Glenmore and with the Kilkenny senior inter-county team from 1945 until 1953. With Kilkenny Heffernan won an All-Ireland title and five Leinster titles.[1]
Playing career
Heffernan first came to prominence at inter-county level as a member of the Kilkenny minor team that won the Leinster Minor Championship in 1942. He joined the Kilkenny senior team in 1945 and was at right wing-back in that year's All-Ireland final defeat to Tipperary. Heffernan was a substitute when Kilkenny lost a second successive All-Ireland final the following year, this time to Cork, but was restored to the starting fifteen in 1947 and finally claimed a winners' medal after a defeat of Cork in one of the greatest finals of all.[2] He played in his fourth All-Ireland final in 1950, lining out at corner-forward against Tipperary, but Kilkenny were beaten by a point. Heffernan retired from inter-county hurling in 1953, by which time he had also claimed five Leinster Championships.
Heffernan worked with Clover Meats in Ferrybank before concentrating on farming near Tullogher. He died aged 87 on 21 March 2013 and was survived by his wife and seven children.
