Player of the Year Laura Hayes ready for next challenge

When Laura Hayes was a youngster, her mother used to shove her out the door in the morning and lock it behind her.

Dealing with a ball of energy, particularly when there are three younger siblings to attend to also, was exhausting. There was no end to Laura and nothing has changed in that regard.

Her mind never stops searching for things to do. The farm and camogie have been the constants. In those early days, being outdoors wasn't a form of punishment – she adored mucking in with her father and as we all know, the work is never done on a farm.

Playing camogie is similar in that way.

Being corner-forward, or corner-back, waiting on the sliotar to come her way, would have driven her demented. It would also have been a waste. Around half-back or midfield is her site and the modern approach of involving runners from deep suits her more than almost any other 5 or 7 in her code.

The St Catherine’s star signed off the year as the PwC GPA camogie player of the year, a brilliant double having led Cork out onto Croke Park with team captain Molly Lynch after an incredible comeback from a hamstring injury to be involved in the match-day squad.

"The first day I was made the captain was for the Down (group) game," Hayes recalls. "I got such a shock. Ger (Manley) just said it in front of everyone. He didn't say it to me because it was only going to be for one game at the time, I suppose. I didn't expect it at all.

"There’s a big thing in Cork where you develop leaders, the likes of Gemma O’Connor, (St Cats clubmate) Orla Cotter would have developed the likes of Laura Treacy, Amy O'Connor, and then they would have developed the likes of me, Saoirse McCarthy and then we would work on developing likes of Aoife Healy, Orlaith Cahalane, just to