Emotional moment for Omagh man who finally meets his hero

THEY say ‘never meet your heroes’ as they often fail to live up to expectations.

But Omagh man Michael Duffy recently met his and, it’s fair to say, the experience more than fulfilled his expectations.

Life-long Wolves fan Michael, who recently retired as bar manager in Omagh Golf Club after 25 years, was recently over to see his beloved team and was lucky enough to meet his boyhood hero, Kenny HIbbett.

Michael and his son Mark, also a die-hard Wolves man, jetted over to a game last month to see the team take on fellow Premiership strugglers Nottingham Forest.

The match was a retirement gift from Michael’s family and a chance encounter on the journey over turned out to be very fortunate.

Mark takes up the tale…

“We were on the plane and sat next to a man called Noel who was also going over to the game. After striking up a conversation with him, he asked if we’d ever tried the International Wolves bar for overseas fans situated at Molineux, which we hadn’t. Noel told us that there is always a keynote speaker on match days to entertain the fans – and that it would be Kenny Hibbett!

Well, my dad’s jaw just dropped open! We had to go; there was no way we were passing up the chance for my dad to meet his favourite player.”

So, father and son make their way to the bar nice and early, patiently waiting for a moment Michael admits he’s been waiting for ‘his whole life’.

Sure enough, out walks Kenny.

Michael continues the story…

“I’ve been following Wolves through all four divisions from 1958 when there were only 200 people at the game, my whole football-watching life.

“Anyone who follows football will understand what it’s like to meet your life-long footballing hero. Kenny gave his speech, while Matthew and I sat there enraptured.

“Afterwards they opened the floor to questions from the crowd. I stepped up and said, ‘Kenny I don’t have a question but I just want to say that I am a Wolves fan my whole life and in all my years following the team you are absolutely the greatest player I’ve ever seen.’

“Kenny looked at me, shook my hand and it was clear he became very visibly moved at what I had said, I think he was crying – I was almost crying myself!”

Kenny HIbbett was something of a Wolves legend: He played for Wolves for most of his career, amassing an incredible 466 appearances and scoring 89 goals in his tenure.

Hibbert also played in the 1972 UEFA Cup Final, which Wolves lost to fellow English team Tottenham Hotspur.

Michael says it’s ‘shocking’ that he never won an England cap.

Asked what made Kenny so special, Michael offers, “For me, he was the complete midfielder, and I just loved watching him play. Kenny had bags of flair and could score goals. He’s made the second highest appearances in Wolves’ history.

“Meeting Kenny was absolutely the perfect moment; the day worked out so well, especially as we beat Forest 1-0. It capped off an amazing experience.”