KYLE HAYES ONLY made his debut for Limerick last summer at 18, but already feels he’s found his feet at senior inter-county level.
That should be no surprise given manager John Kiely’s estimate that the average age of the Treaty panel is only 21.3.
Hayes is still a teenager but has the sort of confidence that you get after coming up through a successful underage system. He played in an All-Ireland minor final in 2016, won the All-Ireland U21 crown last year and has now established himself in the senior set-up.
“This year I feel a lot more comfortable,” he said at the launch of the Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland U21 hurling championship.
“There was a lot of us new guys in last year and even a few more this year, but everyone’s comfortable now and you can see that out on the pitch, that everyone’s gelling together.
“It’s very young but we really don’t have anyone old on the team. Even if you look at a lot of other teams, the average age is not quite as young as that but it is quite young.
“I think the game is adapting and changing to suit more guys who are in college. It’s very hard to juggle that lifestyle if you have a full-time job as well.”
With Hayes and plenty of his talented underage team-mates emerging, the future looks bright for Limerick.
They’ve already secured a return to Division 1A of the league next year and enter the championship as genuine contenders for the Munster title. After that, who knows what’s possible?
“It was massive,” was his assessment of their promotion from Division 1B.
“They’ve been there the last seven or eight years trying to get out of there and it’s been a goal every year to get out. Fortunately this year we made the extra step and we did well to win up in Galway, because that was a real, tough match that’ll really stand to us.
“We got Clare and Tipp in really good matches after that so hopefully all these games will stand to us in the coming weeks in the championship.
“Fellas have definitely stepped up. You see especially Aaron Gillane this year, he really came into himself. Seamus Flanagan and Barry Murphy, all these guys that wouldn’t have been playing senior last year are after really coming into themselves. It’s just a matter of time, adapting and getting comfortable.”
A groin injury forced the Kildimo/Pallaskenry youngster to take three months off over the winter, but he’s feeling invigorated after the break. He struggled with the injury since last summer, but the games were coming thick and fast and he didn’t want to miss out.
“At the start of last summer I didn’t pull my groin but I kind of twinged it and it was coming at me through the summer. I’d kind of rest it in between matches.
“I want to play as many games as I can and there were trophies available to be won so I didn’t want to be missing out on them. I kind of just battled through it.
“I pulled it then at the start of the December so I was out for three and a half months then after that.
“Not even for my getting my leg right but it was nice to get mental freshness as well and get a bit of a break. I’m feeling 100% now.”
He’s in favour of the new round robin format coming into the provincial championships and is looking forward to the flurry of games on the horizon.
“I said from the very start that I’m in favour of the new championship. You’re guaranteed four games and especially in Limerick, you’d say they’re a young team and will gain more experience game after game.
“It’s really building up to be a great match (against Tipperary on 20 May).
“Especially after the battle we had down in Thurles in the league as well. Limerick is always a very tough place to come and play but we’ll still be the underdogs. We kind of relish that as well.”
Before the Munster SHC campaign kicks off, Hayes will be a key figure for the Treaty U21s who face Clare in the Munster quarter-final on Bank Holiday Monday.
With five members of last year’s All-Ireland winning starting team still underage, Hayes is optimistic they can enjoy another long run in the competition.
“It’s a strong team and we’ve all confidence in ourselves. Hopefully, the first game we have to get over is Clare. It’s kind of our All-Ireland final first, it’ll be a very tough game down in Ennis.
“Once you get over that, we’ll get Peter (Casey) back (from injury) then and we’ll look forward from there on.”
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