Jake Doyle Hayes confesses Hearts Euro run snub as Hibs star looks to use pain to inspire Conference League surge

Jake Doyle-Hayes couldn’t bear to watch Edinburgh rivals Hearts enjoying European group stage football last season.

And now the Hibs midfielder is desperate to see what it’s like for himself. The Irishman will return to Andorra on Thursday – where he made his Hibees debut in 2021– to face Inter Club d’Escaldes in their Conference League qualifier first leg. Lee Johnson’s side are expected to progress a step closer to the lucrative group phase. Hearts played there last term, with glamour games against big guns Fiorentina and Istanbul Basaksehir.

But Doyle-Hayes did everything to avoid those matches on TV because it was too painful not to be involved. Now he’s out to grab his chance with Hibs. The 24-year-old said: “It was tough knowing Hearts were in the group stages of Europe last season. I tried not to watch any of their games.

"I managed to avoid them all. Because we wanted to be there, we wanted to be in Europe. So we set out last season to make sure that we got there this time and we managed to do it. Now we need to push on and get to the group stage.

“The way the manager wants us to play is high-pressure, front foot. So going into these European games, we need to implement what he’s asking us to do. If we do that, we’ll do well.

“We want to go as far as we can. Everyone wants to get to the group stage and play in it for as long as we can. I think we have the squad to do it.”

Due to injury and being out of favour at Easter Road, Doyle-Hayes only managed 19 appearances in total last season – putting his future at the club in doubt. But he forced his way back into Johnson’s plans towards the end of the campaign with impressive displays.

And the midfielder, along with new boy Dylan Levitt, looks like he’ll be a key man