LAST UPDATE | 4 Nov 2024

A MEMBER OF THE judging panel for the GAA All Stars has spoken out about the decision to award a player of the year nomination to Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes.

GAA journalist Pat Nolan said that off-field behaviour was not discussed by the 12-person panel ahead of awarding nominations.

However, he said there were suggestions among the panel in the aftermath that it should consider “developing guidelines for how players are selected” in the future.

Hayes was one of three nominees for player of the year – losing out to Clare’s Shane O’Donnell – but he did make the team of the year.

The recognition came as Hayes awaits a decision from a court which could see him jailed for violent disorder offences outside a Limerick nightclub five years ago.

Defending the decision today, Nolan said he and others on the panel voted for Hayes “based on his ability” and his “performances on the pitch” during Limerick’s season.

He appeared on today’s Liveline to respond to a backlash against the judging panel’s decision on the RTÉ Radio One programme.

Hayes will know next month if he is going to jail after he was convicted of violent disorder at a Limerick nightclub.

Last December, a two-year suspended sentence was imposed on Hayes (26) after he was convicted of two counts of violent disorder at the Icon nightclub in Limerick on 28 October 2019.

The five-time All-Ireland winning hurler appeared before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court last month, for re-entry of the two-year suspended sentence which was triggered last month after Hayes was convicted of dangerous driving before Mallow District Court.

Hayes has lodged an appeal for that conviction for dangerous driving.

Nolan, who is also the Irish Daily Mirror’s Gaelic games correspondent, said the panel was made up of journalists who were aware of the high-profile cases involving Hayes.

Asked if matters off the pitch should have a role to play in the decision-making process, Nolan said there is an issue in “where do you draw the line”.

“There are obviously various levels of transgressions so where do you stop,” he said, adding that Hayes was entitled to be nominated as soon as his manager John Kiely selected him.

“We pick players based on their performances for their county over the year,” Nolan added.

“Ultimately the Limerick management team made a decision to play Kyle Hayes in this year’s league and championship and once they did that, he was eligible for selection for an All Star,” he said. “It isn’t for us to be judge and jury after the matter has been tried.”

Asked if anyone raised it as an impediment to his selection, Nolan said it “wasn’t mentioned” but said there was a discussion afterwards that “maybe we should look at developing guidelines for how players are selected in future”.

Hayes is not the first player to receive such an award amid off-the-field controversy.

In 2014 Dublin’s Diarmuid Connolly was announced as an All Star shortly before he avoided jail for assault. Before that, Tipperary hurler John Leahy collected the same award in 1997, the year after a conviction for assault.