Cork U20 star Brian Hayes admits dual role impossible at senior level

Brian Hayes of Cork celebrates after his side's victory in the GAA Hurling All-Ireland U20 Championship final. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Cork U20 dual star Brian Hayes admits “it is not possible” to play both codes at senior intercounty level.

Hayes enjoyed a remarkable summer in red, winning back-to-back All-Ireland U20 hurling medals either side of captaining the Cork U20 footballers to Munster glory.

2021 represented his final year at U20, with the towering St Finbarr’s star expected to transition on to senior inter-county level in one code or the other in the near future.

Former Cork footballer Paul Kerrigan last week expressed his hope that Hayes would plump for the big ball when the time came to make such a decision, but the man himself is adamant that he does not have a preference.

Brian Hayes pictured with 96FM's Finbarr McCarthy at the 96FM C103 GAA Sports Star of the Month awards at the Rochestown Park Hotel. Picture: Tony O'Connell

What is certain is that he will have to focus on one over the other.

“Realistically, it is not possible with the way the game has gone now,” said Hayes of juggling the two codes at senior inter-county level.

“If the opportunity comes, I’ll hopefully have to make a decision. And genuinely, I’d have a 50/50 split between them. It’s been like that since I was 15 or 16. I wouldn’t really have a preference.”

During a hectic summer for the 20-year-old, he lined out seven times between the Cork U20 hurlers and footballers, five of those games falling within a 16-day period.

Having been used off the bench during Cork’s 2020 All-Ireland U20 hurling final win at the beginning of July, he was at half-forward on the 2021 team that successfully defended the county’s Munster and All-Ireland crowns. The scorer of 0-2 in Cork’s Munster final win, he upped his contribution to 1-2 on All-Ireland final day.

On the football side, his fetch from a Cork restart was instrumental in the creation of Ciaran O’Sullivan’s 64th-minute winning point at the end of their thrilling Munster U20 semi-final win over Kerry. There was disappointment, though, at how they fell to eventual champions Offaly in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Brian Hayes of Cork after the 2021 EirGrid GAA All-Ireland Football U20 Championship semi-final defeat to Offaly. Picture: Matt Browne/Sportsfile

“You look back with a bit of a sour taste at how the football ended, but it was great to get a Munster medal and to captain the team to a Munster title. With hurling then, it couldn’t have gone better. It was tough but it was a great summer.

"In terms of training, it was fine. It was just when we got into the matches, it was a bit tough on the body. The Munster U20 football final came two days after the Munster U20 hurling semi-final. It was a Tuesday and a Thursday. I actually had to come off in the last 15 minutes of the football game because it was just tough on the legs.”

With the inter-county season concluded, his focus now turns to club matters and he faces into another incredibly busy seven-week period in both codes for the Barrs.

Football is first on the itinerary, last year’s beaten county semi-finalists in action against Ballincollig on Saturday in Group C of the PSFC.

“We are just taking it game by game and hopefully get ourselves into the business end again. In 2017, 2018, and 2020, we were in the semi-finals, and in two of those years we were in the finals. There is a lot of experience in this team and so at the start of the year you are aiming to win the county. But you have to take it step by step because it is a long championship. There are three big games first and three good teams there, so you can’t take anything for granted in terms of getting out of your group and getting to a semi-final or final.”