‘Peter Pan’ Heaume so glad to be back in Green
Muratti veteran Dom Heaume makes a return to Vase football today in Alderney having conceded he thought his time at this top table was up.
‘I have not played for four years or so now, so a couple years back I thought it was it for me in the Muratti to be honest,’ the 38-year-old ‘Peter Pan’ striker said after making the 16-man cut for the semi-final at Mount Hale.
Heaume played in 15 straight finals against Jersey from 2005 until 2018, which included one replay, and is looking to make his 22nd appearance in the competition when Guernsey travel to Alderney on Saturday.
The St Martin’s marksman now sits behind only Les Collins and Chris Dyer in the all-time records for Muratti caps, those legends of the game having made 26 and 25 appearances respectively.
‘I would love to go and get one, maybe two caps this year if possible, but we’ll have to see,’ said Heaume.
‘I was aware that I had a fair number of caps already, but at this age every single one is precious to me.’
Heaume is also a six-time Muratti Vase champion, with his standout showing coming in 2012 as his brace at Springfield helped Guernsey to a 2-0 win.
The forward has not appeared in the Island set-up since the 1-0 defeat in 2018, which was the same year that saw him make his exit from the GFC side after playing over 250 times under Tony Vance.
‘In all honestly it has been great, it is so refreshing to be working with Tony again,’ he said.
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‘He has put on some really good sessions and it feels like winding back the clock 10 years, especially with Colin Fallaize being down there too, so I have really enjoyed it.’
Heaume has scored 24 times in his 21 Priaulx appearances this campaign, making it his best season in front of goal since returning to Saints to help him to earn a Muratti recall.
‘I have absolutely loved playing with St Martin’s over the last couple of years, but being back in the island set-up once again brings back really good memories of playing for Guernsey FC,’ added the forward.
‘I have played against Alderney a few times this season already with my club, and last time we went there we only beat them 1-0 and they were everything we knew they would be.’
‘On Saturday it will be 11 men behind the ball for them and they’ll try and nick one from a set-piece.’
‘There has been some really tough games against Alderney over the years and I am sure it will be no different this time.’
‘They have a good starting XI and it will be really tough to break down, they sometimes just struggle for numbers but considering the size of their population they definitely punch above their weight.’
‘For us, preparation has been good but the problem is there’s so much football going on at the moment which means that we have not really been able to have everybody training together at the same time.’
‘I think most of the squad have played with each other before and the bond always forms really quickly, so it’s definitely positive.’
The Muratti Vase semi-final kicks off at 1.30. and will be live-streamed via the GFA Facebook page
