John Heslin (born 27 June 1992) is a former

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er who played for the Westmeath county team between the 2011 and 2024 seasons, and also an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er for the Irish Warriors. Heslin was drafted by

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

club

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

in 2011, with Pick #90 of the Rookie Draft, but left after just three months, without playing a single game.

Playing career

Gaelic football

The St Loman's clubman represented

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

in the

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. T ...

and Westmeath at all levels and starred as Westmeath reached the

Leinster Under-21 Football Championship The Leinster GAA Football Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Leinster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the high ...

final. He also played in two games of the 2011

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

and went on to become a permanent fixture in the Westmeath team. Heslin scored 1–9 in the

2015 Leinster Senior Football Championship The 2015 Leinster Senior Football Championship is the 2015 installment of the annual Leinster Senior Football Championship held under the auspices of Leinster GAA. The competition was scheduled to start on 16 May 2015 with Offaly county football ...

semi-final victory over Meath, his team winning the game despite having to make up 11 points and not having beaten Meath for a long time. He was a playing member of the team when Westmeath won the 2019 National Football League Division 3 league title by a goal against

Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

. In the 2022 Tailteann Cup final he overtook

Dessie Dolan Dessie Dolan (born 11 July 1979) is an Irish Gaelic football manager who was manager of the senior Westmeath county team between 2022 and 2024. He played for the Garrycastle club and for the Westmeath county team, as well as international r ...

as Westmeath's all-time championship top scorer. He retired from inter-county football in January 2025.

Australian football

Heslin represented the

Ireland national Australian rules football team The Irish national Australian rules football team represent Ireland in Australian rules football and is selected from the best Irish born and raised players primarily from the clubs of the Australian Rules Football League of Ireland but also ...

, that won the

2011 Australian Football International Cup The 2011 Australian Football International Cup (also known as the AFL International Cup 2011 or IC11) was the fourth edition of the Australian Football International Cup, an international Australian rules football competition run by the Australia ...

and kicked four goals in the tournament.

Richmond Football Club

Heslin joined the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is tradition ...

as a rookie in the 2012 Pre-season Draft. After only three months on the Tigers' rookie list, homesickness proved too much for the St Loman's clubman, and he resumed his inter-county career with Westmeath.Irish AFL rookie leaves Tigers

Career Statistics

As of match played 15 June 2024

Honours

;Westmeath *

Tailteann Cup The Tailteann Cup is a Gaelic football competition held annually since 2022 and organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is contested by those county teams, which, in the given year, have not otherwise qualified for the All-Ireland ...

(1):

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* National Football League Division 3 (1):

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

;Individual * Tailteann Cup Team of the Year (1): 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heslin, John 1992 births Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Gaelic footballers who switched code Irish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Irish players of Australian rules football St Loman's Gaelic footballers Westmeath inter-county Gaelic footballers