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The beginning of one great GAA story and end of another
Eamonn Sweeney
Time catches up on super ‘Star’ but Hayes has talent to make similar impact for Cork
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January 17 2022 02:30 AM
This was about the big gun that didn’t fire and the big gun that did. About the man with the magnificent past behind him and the man who may have a marvellous future ahead of him.
We expected a towering forward with huge talent in two different codes to play a key role. And he did. It just wasn’t the towering dual star we expected.
This felt a bit like Kieran Donaghy’s Last Stand. He found himself up against the marker who grinds down even the greatest players in the end. When you’re six weeks from your 39th birthday there’s little you can do when time gets a firm grip on your jersey.
‘Star’ has eluded those clutches longer than almost any other player of his generation. But there was only one conclusion to be drawn as Sam Ryan broke the ball away from him, got to it ahead of him and generally outplayed him.
Ryan is an excellent defender and he had a stormer. But Donaghy in his prime would have eaten him without salt. That’s no slight on Ryan, the best defenders in the country once found the big man impossible to handle. But those days are gone forever.
To make things even tougher, Donaghy had to do emergency duty at midfield when Joseph O’Connor went off injured in the second half. He battled away there as always. Willingness and spirit have kept him going longer than most of his peers on the field and on the court.
So perhaps it’s fitting that following an afternoon of frustration Donaghy’s final contribution was to create the injury-time goal which gave the favourites brief hope of a miracle escape. As so often before, when the high ball came in his presence created havoc and he broke it to a team-mate, Seán Quilter this time, who found the net. We’ll remember him this way.
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If Donaghy is near the end of his journey, that of Brian Hayes is just beginning. Where Donaghy coupled basketball with football, Hayes excels at the more traditional combination of football and hurling. Last year he won two All-Ireland U-20 medals in the latter code while captaining Cork to a Munster title in the former.
Underage success and senior achievement are very different things which is why Hayes’ man-sized final display is the best proof yet of his outstanding potential. There was something Donaghy-esque about his contribution to the goal which, after just 17 seconds, gave St Finbarr’s a lead they never lost.
Cannily situated on the edge of the square at throw-in time, the big fella was perfectly placed to take advantage of a long ball floated in by Ian Maguire. One touch broke the ball down, a second deftly set Cillian Myers Murray free to find the net.
Restored to wing-forward the youngster added three points, one wonderful, one inspirational and one crucial. The pass Myers Murray popped up to him just inside the Stacks half in the 24th minute verged on the hospital variety.
But Hayes reached out a long arm to flick the ball over the inrushing Conor Jordan and powered forward before twirling away from another challenge to shoot over the bar.
His first half injury-time score, where he imperiously shrugged off a tackle before sweeping a shot between the posts, was the perfect illustration of the confidence, physicality and fearlessness which helped the Cork champions establish a six-point half-time lead.
By the time the teams reached the second-half water break that lead had been whittled down to just one and the initiative seemed to be swinging inexorably towards the Kerry kingpins. But it was Hayes who struck first after the break, intelligently finding space before fisting over a point which steadied his team’s nerves.
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Such a telling contribution by such a young player promises great things. Perhaps the man in Semple Stadium who best knew what it’s like to possess such athletic ability, physical power and potential at that age was the opposition number 14.
Should Hayes’ career turn out even half as well as Donaghy’s it will be a fine one. But the older player had the considerable advantage of being from Kerry rather than Cork. Could the youngster be doomed to spend his best years toiling fruitlessly in a losing cause?
It would be foolish to confidently predict an impending Cork revival. However, yesterday’s victory was one of a number of straws in the wind, like the 2019 All-Ireland minor and U-20 double, the 2020 Munster semi-final win over Kerry and the recent appointment of the astute Keith Ricken as manager, which have slightly reduced the Beckettian levels of gloom among the Rebel footballing public.
A ’Barr’s triumph shows that even the largest gaps may not be entirely unbridgeable given time and effort. Their concession of 5-20 when suffering a 21-point defeat by Dr Crokes a little over three years ago seemed the ultimate confirmation that Cork club football lagged far behind its Kingdom counterpart. Turning the tables so quickly is a significant achievement by manager Paul O’Keeffe.
Brian Hayes doesn’t have to look far for evidence that Cork are not eternally doomed to be losers. His father Paddy played for the county during the heroic age which yielded two All-Ireland titles and multiple Munsters during the late eighties and early nineties.
And his team-mate Michael Shields starred during the not too shabby either era which culminated in the 2010 All-Ireland triumph.
At 35, Shields is pushing on a bit too but, introduced in the final quarter, it was his run and pass which set up Enda Dennehy for what proved to be the match-winning goal.
Time might get them eventually but the great old boys leave it all on the pitch before they go.
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