Sean Hayes braces young Cork players for fierce battle against Clare

Ahead of the U21 provincial football championships each spring, the various managers are usually to be found singing from the one hymn sheet; the pulling and dragging of players between club, college, and county their chief gripe.

The New Year is hardly a week old when the pre-league competitions take flight, offering as they do a chance for emerging talents to stake their claim at senior level and, by the time the Sigerson Cup has wrapped up in mid-February, U21 managers are left with little more than two weeks of uninterrupted prep. Hardly ideal.

For Cork manager Sean Hayes, the weather, more so than access to players, has proven most troublesome these past two months.