When Cork's Brian Hayes met a fork in the road, fate intervened

'He was hurling and football all the way up, and some people would have argued he was more gifted in football, but he was a really good hurler too and that's no surprise given the Cunningham blood 

HAPPY HAYES: Brian Hayes arrives for the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Limerick and Cork at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

In conversation here three years ago, Brian Hayes expressed the hope that he would one day have to make a decision. A decision on whether to plump for the Cork senior hurlers or footballers.

The conversation took place in August 2021. Hayes was coming off a remarkable and relentless summer in red. Across a 17-day period the month previous, the then 20-year-old clipped two points off the bench in the county’s Covid-delayed 2020 All-Ireland U20 hurling final win, captained Cork to Munster U20 football glory, and also found time to squeeze in a successful Munster U20 hurling campaign.