Brian Hayes had an incredible impact on St Finbarr's success, he's a huge loss to Cork football

In a county-final determined by the finest of margins, Brian Hayes put in a tour de force for St Finbarr’s.

It came down to one last cruel kick off the post, but the Barrs were ahead by that juncture to a large extent due to Hayes’s influence.

The midfielder was centrally involved in 1-10 of their 1-14 total. He scored 1-2. 

For another seven points, Hayes held possession within three passes of the white flag being raised.

His fingerprints were all over the outcome right from the first whistle. Hayes inserted himself in front of Briaín Murphy for the throw-in, clawing the ball from the air, and gaining possession on the goalside of his opposite number. Just two passes later, Ricky Barrett opened the scoring.

Hayes ended that play on the edge of the square as the nearest Barrs player to the posts. A statement of intent for what was to come.

He was back outfield to pressurise Micheál Aodh Martin into sending his first kick-out over the sideline. Hayes quickly punted the restart into Steven Sherlock for a second point. Inside 60 seconds, Hayes had an assist and a secondary assist. He was well in the game.

The Barrs’ third point showed the power of their support running in a rapid counter-attack. Conor Dennehy picked off the turnover in his own square. From there, Hayes and Ian Maguire handled the ball twice, while Dennehy took it forward twice more to finish a flowing move.

After Hayes gathered a turnover to embark on another support run, he stayed at full-forward for a spell.

A kick pass into space from John Wigginton-Barrett found Hayes out in front of Colin Molloy to lay off for Ethan Twomey’s lead point.

CUSHION

Hayes’s biggest contribution yet arrived in the 16th minute. Posted on the edge of the arc, he took a pop pass from Maguire, who provided a screen to buy a fraction of space from the covering defender. Hayes snapped a perfectly measured kick over to raise the first orange flag of the afternoon for a three-point cushion.

He returned to centrefield duties to gather Darragh Newman’s next kick-out uncontested, and then break Martin’s subsequent restart away from two Nemo opponents to Dennehy.

However, when the next Barrs restart fell short of Hayes’s run, Nemo pounced with Kevin O’Donovan’s incisive march through for a smashing goal.

Under the cosh, Hayes was targeted again to regain control. He did so with a clean catch under pressure and an instant layoff to Twomey, who teed up William Buckley to level. When they fell three and then four points behind approaching half-time, Hayes was the go-to kick-out option, winning both contests.

The second half began along the same lines as the first, with Hayes leaving his imprint on the opening scores. He bumped Murphy out of his way under the throw-in before feeding Buckley to draw a tap-over free.

Their aggressive kick-out press worked a treat. Hayes rose high above the intended Nemo recipients, landed on the run, sent an ambitious handpass over the cover to Sherlock, and finished on the edge of the square to palm home Barrett’s pass across goal.

The two-point half-time deficit had been flipped inside two minutes with four possessions by Hayes.

He had a small hand in Twomey’s next point. The clock showed 33 minutes. The scoreboard showed a three-point lead. The Barrs would only score twice more.

They could’ve applied a killer blow when Hayes took another kick-out clean before launching a gorgeous kick pass down the line to Barrett. Maguire fed Sherlock at point-blank range, but goalscorer O’Donovan produced a goal-saving block and Martin made the follow-up save.

Instead, the Barrs went into killing-the-clock mode. They held possession for two-and-a-half minutes. Hayes was their most common outlet, receiving and retaining the ball six times.

Down the stretch, that axis of Hayes, Maguire, and Luke Hannigan kept the Barrs in control into stoppage time.

In those added minutes, Nemo eventually got back level. With the game on the line, Newman took aim at Hayes. He batted down to Enda Dennehy. Two passes later, Cillian Myers-Murray was kicking the winning score.

Given his Cork hurling commitments, which will be rewarded with an All-Star on Friday week, Hayes hadn’t played any football under the new rules until the championship opener. With more game time has come more comfort. That process was interrupted by injury, which ruled him out of two group games.

His impact has only increased through the knock-out rounds. Two points against Castlehaven in the quarter-final. A 1-1 tally in the semi-final against Ballincollig. His 1-2 to down Nemo on Sunday.

If only the days of the dual player endured at inter-county level, John Cleary would love to have him aboard.