John Hayes enjoying hype but staying focused

John Hayes didn’t experience much of the build-up to the 2014 county final... and quite the build-up there was, too, given Carbery Rangers hadn’t been involved in the showpiece event of Cork football for 108 years.

Hayes, a member of the Bord Gáis Energy team based at Lapps Quay, was living, along with team-mate John O’Rourke, on the Old Blackrock Road in Cork City and therefore removed from the hype enveloping Rosscarbery. He’s since returned west and, having missed the razzmatazz of two years ago, he’s been keen to get in amongst the locals and sample the atmosphere this week.

“This is an occasion that is there to be enjoyed and fellas should enjoy it,” asserts the corner-forward. “I don’t believe in shutting yourself into a dark room for the week before a big game; you need to get out of the house and you’d get a kick out of seeing signs around the place. When you meet people, you chat away but you don’t want to get caught in long-winded conversations.”

The 31-year old adds, however, that it is imperative to maintain the correct frame of mind leading into Sunday’s date with Ballincollig.

“It is nice to be back in the final, but finals are all about winning. It is about us preparing well, concentrating on getting the right result, working hard for the duration of the game and, hopefully, winning.”

That’s not to say they took their eye off the ball two years ago. Twenty-two minutes into the decider and the scoreboard had them 0-9 to 0-2 clear of Ballincollig. Six points may have been conceded before half-time, but a 32nd-minute Séamus Hayes goal put them back in pole position before Ballincollig took over again. The corner-forward is adamant Sunday is no revenge mission. That 1-13 to 1-10 defeat was put to bed long ago.

“As far as I’m concerned, that game is gone and is in the past. It was two years ago. This is a new game. It is motivation enough to be in a county final.

“You hurt after every championship game you lose. That stores up and it can motivate you, but you can’t dwell on it, either, because it can be a negative. Sunday is an opportunity for us to win a game of football, it so happens to be a county final.”

The 31-year old continued: “We will probably touch on [the 2014 defeat], but in the way that you would talk about a team that you previously played and the lessons you learned from playing them. Ballincollig are an excellent team. We got a good start that day, but they battled back and they never stopped going. That’s the kind of team they are and you saw that again in the semi-final against Nemo.”

Can Rangers better them?

“We have a very strong squad. Everyone who togs out for us are all proud Ross men determined to do a job.”