Latest news with #KyleHayes
Irish Daily Mirror
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Five-time All-Ireland winner Kyle Hayes taken to hospital after club game
Kyle Hayes was taken to hospital following a weekend Limerick senior club championship tie. Treaty five-time All-Ireland winner Hayes was left on the ground for a number of minutes following a first half incident at Sean Finn Park, Rathkeale. Hayes was forced out of last Friday night's drawn game with Newcastle West after an incident which also saw defender Maurice Murphy red carded by referee Johnny Murphy. 27-year-old Hayes was placed in a neck brace and checked out by medics before being taken to hospital. Hayes' Kildimo-Pallaskenry's club play Newcastle West in senior football championship action at Rathkeale this Friday evening. It seems unlikely that Hayes, who also plays club football, will be involved in that one. The Kildimo-Pallaskenry hurlers are back in action the weekend after next and he may return for that one depending on how his recovery goes.
Extra.ie
22-06-2025
- Sport
- Extra.ie
Tasteless Kyle Hayes meme surfaces after shock Limerick loss
A rather tasteless Kyle Hayes meme has been flooding social media platforms after Limerick's shock loss to Dublin in the All-Ireland Hurling Championship on Saturday. Heading into the quarter-final, Limerick were odds-on favourites to cruise past Dublin and into the semis. After Dublin's captain, Chris Crummey, was sent off in the first 15 minutes of the game, a victory for the Treaty looked like a sure thing. 21 June 2025; Limerick manager John Kiely during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final match between Dublin and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile — The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 21, 2025 However, Dublin rallied together and, after a sensational second-half spell that saw them score two goals inside one minute, they eventually emerged victorious. Limerick's loss has since been described as the greatest upset in Championship history, with many slamming the Treaty for a 'disgraceful' performance. The Munster county's exit represents the first time they won't contest an All-Ireland semi-final since 2018. 21 June 2025; John Hetherton of Dublin celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final match between Dublin and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile That is one of the greatest victories I've ever seen! Commiserations to Limerick but this day belongs to Dublin! Incredible!!!! — Paul Murphy (@PaulMurphykk) June 21, 2025 After the game, Limerick boss John Kiely was magnanimous, admitting that Dublin deserved their win. 'It's disappointing but it's the reality, we wish Dublin the very best of luck as they go forward now,' the Limerick coach said, 'That's it, we're done.' 'Dublin deserve great credit for their performance, to win that game with 14 men for such a long period of time is a fantastic achievement for them.' Limerick's Kyle Hayes dejected after Limerick's loss. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie However, it wasn't all class as Limerick stalwart Kyle Hayes was once again the brunt of some jokes across various social media platforms. The 26-year-old was infamously convicted of dangerous driving last year after he was clocked at a speed of 155km/h. And with fans suspecting that Limerick were desperate to get home after their shock loss, a tasteless meme of the half-back driving the bus left many shaking their head. Hayes's convictions have been the subject of much debate in recent times with a Limerick priest telling the Irish Times last year that the hurler should be forgiven and allowed to 'move on'. Fr Timothy Wrenn of a parish close to Hayes's Pallaskenry said: 'He is only human, a human being like all of us. 'We make mistakes and hopefully we can learn from those and life goes on.' Last year, the Limerick half-back was awarded his fifth consecutive All Star award and shortlisted for Hurler of the Year.
Irish Examiner
16-06-2025
- Irish Examiner
Mick Clifford: At a time of severe prison overcrowding, why is more use not made of community service orders?
Kyle Hayes is paying his debt to society in a constructive manner. Last April, he was ordered by Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to do 120 hours of community service in lieu of a three-month prison sentence. That in turn was handed down after he broke the conditions of a suspended prison sentence having being found guilty of engaging in violent disorder outside a nightclub in Limerick in 2019. On one level, he has been fortunate. Prison was a very real possibility following his initial conviction. The subsequent conviction for dangerous driving, while serving the suspended sentence, could easily have resulted in the prison sentence being activated. He is also fortunate in that community service orders are very rare in the Circuit Court. That's not to say that the system wouldn't benefit from more such orders in that court. But right now, they tend to be used nearly exclusively by the district court. He would, however, appear to be the ideal candidate for a sanction that was designed to lessen the frequency of sending people to prison. As a high-profile hurler, he has skills that could be well utilised in the community. Kyle Hayes, as a high-profile hurler, has skills that could be well utilised in the community. Picture: Brendan Gleeson He does not have any impeding characteristics, such as an addiction, the kind of issue that often deems an offender to be unsuitable for community service. But what exactly will he be doing to pay his debt to society? How are community service orders monitored, and what happens if an individual does not complete an order? And crucially, at a time of severe prison overcrowding, why is more use not made of community service orders? They are definitely an enlightened element of the criminal justice system. The concept was introduced in a 1983 Criminal Justice act. 'A community service order shall require the offender to perform, in accordance with this Act, unpaid work for such number of hours as are specified in the order and are not less than 40 and not more than 240.' The order is designed to apply in lieu of prison sentences of up to 12 months. In general, the work has to be completed within a year but certain leeway might be given by the probation service, which oversees the orders, in special circumstances. The service could involve anything from assisting with community organsations, or with clean ups, or providing service in training or coaching young people. Questions sent to the Probation Service requesting information on specifics of the work concerned did not receive a reply. The only other law covering community service orders is the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014 which makes provision for a judge to issue an order as an alternative to sending a person to prison. The order is dependent on a report to assess whether the offender is suitable for it. Up to a quarter of those assessed are rejected as unsuitable. In the vast majority of these cases, that means they must instead serve a prison sentence. Another criteria which must be met in theory is that there is sufficient work required within the community through which the order can be worked out. A major question arises as to whether community service orders could be used more frequently. This is amplified at a time when prison overcrowding is a constant and growing problem. For instance, in 2023, 78% of all committals to the Irish prison system were for sentences of 12 months or less. This represents 6,191 individuals out of a total of 7,938 committals. In 2023, the annual cost of keeping a prisoner was over €85,000. Apart from that, there is an obvious loss of social and personal capital in locking up people when an alternative is available. Research from abroad suggests the offender is less likely to reoffend if he or she avoids prison. A person who is working can continue to do so, further enhancing the likelihood of staying away from crime. There is an obvious loss of social and personal capital in locking up people when an alternative is available. At a time when the main thrust of penal policy in government is to build more prisons, it appears highly questionable that there continues to be a failure to properly utilise the alternatives. In fact, the trend appears to be going in the opposite direction. In 2011, there were a total of 2,738 community service orders. This level was maintained up to 2019 when there was 2,791. Then it fell off a cliff with 1,161 the following year which was, to a large extent, attributable to the pandemic and lockdowns. However, since then the take up for the orders has been sluggish with just 1,288 in 2022. In 2023, this rose to 1,644, which, the probation service reported, accounted for 'in lieu of 778 years in prison' and benefited communities nationwide to the tune of over €2m of unpaid work. A review of the policy and use for community service orders was conducted by the Probation Service in 2022. It presented some useful suggestions for an increase in the use of the orders. Following on from that, the minister for justice appointed two academics, Niamh Maguire and Nicola Carr, to research the whole area. Their findings were published last November. They interviewed a whole range of judges on attitudes and practices. One recurring theme was that judges have an understanding that they must 'consider' such a sanction, but not regard it as a preferred option. One district court judge told them that as far as they were aware 'we have to consider giving a community service order as opposed to a prison sentence. We have to. And all we have to do is consider it. We actually don't have to impose a community service order, that's my understanding.' There are also major problems with resourcing. Many judges around the country simply do not have the option of imposing a community service order as there is no probation officer available to conduct an assessment of suitability. And sometimes where there is somebody available, the time before a report can be compiled is so long as to make the order untenable. The balance of resources within the system is heavily weighted towards imprisonment. The Irish Prison Service has a budget that is more than 10 times that of the probation service. Expanding use of community service orders would require a rebalancing of that budget and inevitably would be met with the usual resistance from a State agency. The report compiled by the academics was entitled Community Or Custody? A Review of Evidence and Sentencers' Perspectives on Community Service orders and Short-Term Prison Sentences. It recommended that resources need to be applied so that community service orders are "suitable for the broad range of individuals who come before the courts for sentencing but specifically for categories that are currently not considered suitable including persons with substance misuse issues, mental health difficulties and physical disabilities". Currently, candidates for a community service order are often deemed unsuitable because of such issues. Changing that would at the very least ensure more who are assessed would end up serving the order with all the benefits that attach for both the individual and society. They researched systems abroad. In Finland, for instance, any prison sentence of eight months or less is automatically commuted to a community service-type sanction. The academics also concluded that consideration for community service orders needs to be given to people who come before the court frequently, particularly where crime is directly linked to addiction, mental illness and poverty. Again, repeat offenders are currently often deemed unsuitable for consideration for a community service order. Apart from tackling crime in a progressive manner, and one that successive governments claim to want, increasing the use of community service orders makes perfect financial sense. The resources required to process and oversee a community service order would be far less than the €85,000 it costs to detain a prisoner for a year. Research into sentencing conducted by the Judicial Council arrived at similar conclusions. Many judges around the country simply do not have the option of imposing a community service order as there is no probation officer available to conduct an assessment of suitability. File picture: iStock In particular, the research pointed to delays in assessment reports because of a lack of probation staff. 'Such delays are likely to have a bearing on the use of such sanctions by courts where time taken for assessment are extended due to Probation Service resourcing issues and managing demands for services.' On foot of the report by the two academics, the Department of Justice has moved to make some changes. This month the minister, Jim O'Callaghan, got approval from Cabinet to draft amendments to the law. These include a provision 'to oblige the courts to consider a community service order in lieu of a prison sentence for up to 24 months duration', where the current threshold is 12 months. There will also be provision to increase from 240 to 480 the maximum community service hours that a judge may order. And there will be an amendment to allow for 'a broader cohort of appropriately trained and designated probation service staff to oversee the administration of community service orders". However, there will not be a change to oblige judges to give priority to a community service order being applied instead of a prison sentence, reverting only to the latter when circumstances demand. Neither is there any commitment to increase the resources applicable to administering community service orders, without which any change in the law will have only a limited impact. Read More
Irish Daily Mirror
07-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Swashbuckling giant Kyle Hayes divides opinion like no other GAA star
Of all the high-profile residents holding deeds to one of those prized condos on hurling's Main Street, none comes close to Kyle Hayes in their ability to ignite a wildfire. On or off the pitch, Hayes is the preferred accelerant for social media arsonists seeking to set the online world ablaze. Drop his name — his genius as a sportsman trailed by his deeply unsavoury past — into a conversation and, typically, it has the effect of a Molotov cocktail. Neither the game's alley fighters nor its most dementedly combative figures, not even Ireland's dean of the perpetually highly-strung, the hyper-emotional Davy Fitzgerald, can set summer so instantly aflame as Limerick's skyscraping five-time Allstar. That he was back in court less than 24 hours after last month's Man of the Match masterclass against today's Munster final opponents Cork reconfigured the entire All-Ireland debate, was a reminder of how the threads of his two lives have become so inextricably knotted. And of how seeking to disentangle one from the other will remain an exercise in futility for as long as the Kildimo Pallaskenry leviathan remains a lead player on championship Broadway. The swashbuckling giant who led the shattering undressing of the Rebels, whose blistering impact on the long days has exhausted the pundits' store of superlatives, co-habits with the author of an infinitely more sinister off-field backstory. A five time All-Ireland winner; a young man who avoided jail after receiving a two-year suspended sentence on two counts of violent disorder inside and outside a nightclub in Limerick in 2019. He was later ordered to do 180 hours community service. Ironically, the more successful Hayes is at invading the vital moments in Limerick's mission to reclaim their status as the alpha males on the hurling landscape, the higher the volume is turned up on the chorus of outrage. When he is awarded a Man of the Match or, as he was last season, an Allstar (the awards entirely justified by on-field displays, the lone criteria the judging panels are empowered to assess), the condemnation screeches to a deafening crescendo. There are two constituencies feeding the frenzy. The first and the loudest are the social media attack dogs who instantly scramble for the high moral ground every time a controversy arises, their arguments shrill and one-dimensional and lacking nuance or perspective. But there are others, often compassionate, empathetic individuals, who are nonetheless alarmed that an individual found guilty of violent disorder, who has never expressed remorse and who received just 180 hours community service even after breaching the terms of his original sentence, retains a starring role in one of Ireland's most high-profile cultural celebrations. Their reasoning is more subtle, more heartfelt and not so easily dismissed. Some commentators in a counter-argument believe it irrational to hold athletes up as moral exemplars, that once the courts have spoken, life must go on. Even if it is an entirely logical assertion, it ignores the extreme emotions involved. That Hayes is able to shut out all the white noise each time he plays, that he shows no sign of surrendering his place at the centre of the hurling world even while finding himself surrounded by such ceaseless tumult, is, of itself, quite remarkable. At 6'5', his physique as muscular and streamlined and carrying the same sense of majesty as the thoroughbreds who will contest today's Epsom Derby, he is the Platonic ideal of an athlete so often imagined by ancient Greek sculptors. He has maybe the greatest arsenal of gifts - the pulverising power and torque of an Airbus A330, an Apache helicopter's lift and nimble manoeuvrability, a B-52 bomber's deadly payload of obliterating missiles — of anybody who has played the game. Cork, propelled into that recent round-robin tie on a tide of anticipation, departed less than two hours later nursing the kind of traumas that must have invaded their night time imaginings ever since. With Hayes rampant, Limerick were again a force of invincible self-belief, a reborn team delivering perhaps the magnum opus of John Kiely's star-spangled reign. In full flight and fizzing like a well-fletched arrow across a rectangle of grass, their number six offered a jolting reminder of why he rates among sport's most arresting and magnificent vistas. Watching again the footage of his wonder goal against Tipp in the 2021 Munster final, different elements of his jinking, jaw-dropping solo gallop — a run at once thunderous and balletic — evoke Lamine Yamal, Rudolph Nureyev, Roger Federer, the Road Runner confounding Wile E Coyote, a Lamborghini Aventador and an 18-wheel juggernaut. Tipp's defence appear as helpless as traffic cops trying to stop a runaway buffalo from breaking a red light. The fever of excitement surrounding Hayes that afternoon, his capacity to deliver such irresistible moments, was a key component in Limerick's four-in-a-row champions announcing their separation from the rest of the field. His success in combining demonic intensity with flourishes of artistic beauty in the most recent meeting with Cork — the player exhibiting what one Joe DiMaggio biographer describes as a 'glint of godhood' — strengthens the arguments of those who are happy to declare the 26-year-old the greatest hurler in the country. He is unquestionably the most divisive. If Hayes has one or two rivals for the title of Ireland's most influential hurler — led by his Limerick teammate, the lyrical master conductor Cian Lynch — he is unrivalled as the most contentious. Ahead of tonight's rematch, there will be discussion of a sporting life bejewelled by achievement, a freakish talent who combines an engraver's touch with the kind of physical dimensions that might eclipse the sun. As he swatted the Rebels aside 20 days ago, a rampaging Hayes had Dónal Óg Cusack flicking through the history books in search of a meaningful reference point. 'This Limerick we ever seen a better team than them? What a machine they looked, so well engineered, resilient, strong, every part is working and up for the fight everywhere.' Anthony Daly was just as effusive: 'Hayes is like a gazelle. It's not just his breaking out, it's the tackling, it's the handling at the last second, it's the whole package he gives you there at six.' 'Hayes is the leader of this Limerick team,' was the unequivocal verdict of Ger Loughnane's one-time sideline Sancho Panza, Tony Considine. Many, horrified by the court case that put Hayes on the front pages, look at his story from a different angle, declining to see beyond the self-inflicted wounds of his past. His suspended sentence on two charges of violent disorder inside and outside the Icon nightclub in 2019 — charges he denied at the 2023 trial — sits like an ugly, distinguishing visible-to-the-world birthmark. The evidence heard in court was authentically shocking. Many took issue with John Kiely's courthouse character reference, particularly the suggestion that Hayes 'accepts his part in that very disappointing night' and was 'very sorry'. How could that be, how could he have accepted his part and be sorry, went the counter argument, when he had pleaded not guilty? The feelings of his harshest critics are perhaps evoked in a memorable line from the political writer and former Clinton adviser, Sidney Blumenthal, in discussing Donald Trump's serial refusal to embrace the negative consequences of his actions. 'Trump's psychological equilibrium requires the constant rejection of his responsibility for the abrasive reality he churns up,' wrote Blumenthal. Whether or not Hayes is entangled by his conscience or is armoured against self-examination only he can truly say. What is certain is that he will race onto a Shannonside meadow this evening and the arena will rise to a fever pitch. Some to acclaim a phenomenal player, one they believe has advanced into the territory of competitive excellence accessible only to the all time greats. Others to toss their disgust like a Molotov cocktail onto the wildfire triggered every time Kyle Hayes steps onto one of summer's great stages.
Extra.ie
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Extra.ie
Limerick fans defend Kyle Hayes after Cork MOTM backlash
Limerick fans jumped to the defence of their player Kyle Hayes following further backlash from fans last weekend. Hayes and Limerick confirmed their place in a seventh-straight Munster hurling final thanks to a 16-point demolition of Cork at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday last. The Rebels had been fancied to take down John Kiely's men – as they had done twice in championship action in 2024. Limerick's Kyle Hayes was mobbed by supporters after starring in his side's Munster Hurling Championship win against Cork. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile The lattermost of those defeats was last July's All-Ireland semi-final, when Cork edged an epic between the sides by two points. But on Sunday last there was only one team who looked like winning, and that was Limerick. Hayes led the charge from centre back – a change from his usual No.7 jersey – and had a barnstormer of a display as he dictated play between the lines all afternoon. Shane Barrett up against Kyle Hayes during the Munster Hurling Championship match between Limerick and Cork at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile Up top, the likes of Tom Morrissey and Aaron Gillane were in red-hot form, while Diarmaid Byrnes and Adam English were lively also. Hayes' performance saw him scoop the Man of the Match award ahead of his teammates and while some questioned the decision based on the player's recent court proceedings, Limerick fans stood up for their player. Kyle Hayes. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie 'Kyle richly deserved his motm [sic] award,' came one social media response, as another said: 'I'm delighted for the kid, he's been through enough negativity, best of luck for the future.' 'Well done Kyle you are a brilliant hurler and keep going – up Limerick,' came a supportive response from another fan. 'Deserved it and Gillane and English a close second,' came a snappy summary from another. Even a Cork fan who had watched his side get hammered by the Treaty conceded Hayes had been the best player on show. 'As a Rebel – he deserves [the] man of the match,' the fan wrote.
