Cork v Clare: Brian Hayes targeting further improvement

Given his current standing as one of the best hurling forwards in the country, it’s easy to forget that Brian Hayes’s progress has not been perfectly linear.

When Cork began their 2024 campaign with defeat to Waterford in Walsh Park, the St Finbarr’s man appeared as a second-half sub, as he had been in his three appearances in 2023.

Having swapped inter-county football for hurling, he announced himself with a goal off the bench in the thrilling draw with Tipperary in that debut season but that he would go from being a Plan B to a nailed-on starter was not inevitable.

Among six changes for the clash with Clare in the wake of the Waterford loss in 2024, Hayes has not let go of the spot, however. While he didn’t score in that loss to the Banner County, he notched 2-13 across the remaining six championship matches as Cork reached the All-Ireland final and was very unlucky not to win an All-Star.

That wrong was righted last year as he scored 5-9 across seven matches; while such a tally might call to mind John Fitzgibbon, another goal-getter in the Cork number 15 jersey, Hayes has already exceeded the white-flag tally for 2026, with his seven-point haul against Waterford bringing him to 0-10.

The marriage of size and skill is a rare one and it’s perhaps unsurprising that Hayes cites his footballing background as a factor in aiding his development.

“Definitely,” he said and the announcement of a new partnership between Clean Cut Meals and the GAA and GPA, “there are different movements in football that different forwards do.

“I'd always be watching football matches and looking at different forwards and what they're doing and what you can bring into your own game. From playing myself, there's different runs that you'd make in football that other players in hurling might not do.

“Even last year in the football, the run we had with the Barrs was great. William [Buckley] and Ethan Twomey were there as well. Instead of going back hurling training with Cork in November, doing drills in the mud and the rain, we were switching off, we were kicking a ball over the bar out in the club. That's something different too and something that you know can bring back the enjoyment level.

“When you go back hurling then, you're raring to go. You're not getting mentally drained from any of that, so it was great to bounce off and great to carry that through. I think it's good.”

On Sunday, Hayes will hope to help Cork reach the Munster final as they take on Clare, aiming to retain the provincial crown for the first time since 2017 and 2018, with 2005 and 2006 the most recent instance prior to that.

The hope is that Cork, and Hayes, are a long way off their ceiling yet.

“I think you're always trying to get better,” he said.

“Every night you're going training, you're just constantly looking at things that you might be looking to improve on, whether it be from a training match or from a match at the weekend.

“There's always elements of your game that you can improve and you're always chasing. I suppose it doesn't take long to come down to earth and to be humbled after a performance that you might be happy with in training when you're making top-quality defenders the whole time.

“It can be so competitive in training that if one of them beat me on a night, you'd be only raring to go the next night to beat them or whether it be in the alley. The kind of competitive nature that we have in our own squad is great for the overall performance as a team then after that.”