John Heron Player Profile

Biography

Six foot two, eyes of blue – Big John Heron is after you! That was the rallying call of the popular captain John Heron who brought the Irish Cup home to Ballymena in 1989.

Born in Broughshane, John combined his two passions of farming and football throughout his formative years, joining Ballymena United’s youth team in the summer of 1983 as a teenager.

Heron would have to be patient for his breakthrough into the United first team, but in February 1986, manager Jim Brown debuted the 20-year-old as a striker alongside Johnny Speak against Linfield in a league game that ended 1-1. John impressed for the remainder of the 1985/1986 season, as he moved further back the field to his natural defensive position – ending the season with a dozen senior appearances for the club.

Despite his promising first season, the second campaign proved more difficult for Heron. United captain Brian Crockard had died suddenly on holiday in the summer of 1986, and John was dubbed the natural successor to his position as centre half and captain by manager Brown, however the arrival of Brian Donnelly quickly pushed John down the pecking order – limiting him to only five appearances, one of which being a dismal 7-2 defeat to Glentoran at the Oval. Dismayed by his lack of opportunity – John walked out on the club in December 1986 after another disagreement with Jimmy Brown.

John returned and featured in pre-season of 1987, but chose to drop down to the B Division to sign for Chimney Corner in August 1987, but his stay at Allen Park lasted only a month as he returned to the Showgrounds days after the appointment of Alec McKee as the new first team manager. However, opportunities continued to frustrate the Broughshane man – as he mustered only eight appearances towards the end of the 1987/1988 season.

An injury to Brian Donnelly in the opening game of the 1988/1989 season away to Ballyclare Comrades would open the door for 22-year-old Heron to establish himself in the team, and he took the opportunity with both hands to eventually make 46 appearances and score his first goals for the club. John became a mainstay of a team packed full of talented local players that took the club all the way to Irish Cup glory for the sixth time in May 1989, defeating Larne 1-0 in the final at the Oval.

That cup win took United back into Europe, as Ballymena United lost 10-0 to Belgian giants RSC Anderlecht in the European Cup Winners’ Cup, who would eventually go on to lose in the final to Barcelona that season. In November 1989, John took over the club captaincy from Michael Smyth – a role he held for the next seasons. He excelled in the role and drove the club forward into their first meaningful title charge for a decade, but the Sky Blues fell away in the final weeks of the 1989/1990 season to eventually finish in fifth position.

With his stock growing rapidly, John turned down the opportunity to join Linfield to finally sign professional terms with Ballymena United in September 1990, shortly after his 25th birthday. Following the 1990/1991 season Jim Hagan arrived at the club as player manager in the summer, tasked with taking the club to the next level.

Early into Hagan’s tenure, Ballymena were the talk of the league as Heron initially refused a one-year contract renewal offer from the club in September 1991 - it looked certain that title chasing Glenavon would sign the defender for a reported bid of £30,000 – but at the eleventh hour, Ballymena United agreed a new four year contract with their captain.

He was unused on the bench for the Irish League Representative side in November 1991 against the League of Ireland. Hagan failed to deliver silverware in his first season, coming closest in the Irish Cup, as the Sky Blues were outclassed by Glenavon in the semi-finals. Despite some of the negativity from the terraces surrounding his contract negotiation, John’s importance to the team was highlighted by winning the 1992 Players’ Player of the Year award from his Ballymena United team-mates, having surpassed 200 club appearances in the latter part of the campaign.

Speculation returned of a potential move to Linfield in the summer of 1992, but Heron stayed loyal to the Braidmen in an injury hampered 1992/1993 season, in which Ballymena United were beaten finalists in the Floodlit Cup Final against Portadown in December 1992. Heron’s season came to an end in March 1993 with a broken knee-cap, as the Sky Blues could only muster a tenth placed finish for their efforts.

The axe finally fell on Jim Hagan in October 1993, and a conveyer belt of Ballymena United managers followed, starting with former Glentoran boss Tommy Jackson. The cup winning team had been slowly dismantled at the Showgrounds, but Heron remained a constant and consistent performer – winning his second Players’ Player of the Year award at the end of the 1993/1994 season – becoming only the second player to win the award twice.

With promotion & relegation looming in the Irish League for the first time, United rolled the dice again bringing in former player Gary Erwin in October 1994 in the last attempt to be part of the new eight team Premier Division. The gamble failed, and United resigned themselves to a place in the second tier – to be managed by the latest supremo in the dugout – Alan Fraser.

Fraser aimed to put his stamp on the Showgrounds, and transfer listed many of United’s established players including John Heron at the end of the 1994/1995 season. Slapped with a £5,000 price tag and no deals to be done, and his contract expired in September 1995, he found himself frozen out at the Showgrounds, with the club holding onto his registration that kept him out of senior football for almost the entirety of the 1995/1996 campaign.

Eventually moving to Paul Kirk’s Distillery in August 1996, it brought to an inauspicious end to his time as a Ballymena United player having made 300 appearances, scoring thirteen goals and currently remains the 14th on the list of all time club appearance holders. John spent two seasons in the First Division with the Whites before moving to Ballymoney United in 1998 where he spent one season, winning the Smirnoff Cup – the club’s first trophy in 15 years.

Heron’s football career came to an end aged 33 as he moved to Scotland in late 1999 for work. He eventually relocated back to Ballymena and also returned to the club in a coaching capacity for the Youth team in the early 2010’s, and was a regular figure at club events and reunion dinners for the lauded 1989 team.

John Heron passed away in December 2025 in Ballymena, aged 60.

Career
(Aug 1983) Ballymena United; (Aug 1987) Chimney Corner; (Sep 1987) Ballymena United; (Aug 1996) Distillery; (Aug 1998) Ballymoney United

Honours
(with Ballymena United)
Irish Cup: (winner) 1988/1989
Floodlit Cup: (finalist) 1992/1993
(with Ballymoney United)
Smirnoff Cup: (winner) 1998/1999