Niall Ó Ceallacháin excited by the progress of Brian Hayes with Dublin

​By Paul Keane

At the very top level of inter-county hurling, Leinster SHC finalist Brian Hayes fits into a unique category. Those who haven't played minor or U-20 for their county.

It's rare enough in football to make such a leap - shoutout to Meath's reigning All-Star defender Seán Rafferty - but even rarer in hurling, where the subtle skills of the game typically take years to master.

But Hayes, still just 23, has bridged that gap impressively, emerging as one of Dublin's most important and influential performers in their quest for a first Leinster SHC title since 2013.

They'll take on Galway in tomorrow evening's provincial decider, and given that it was current Galway manager Micheál Donoghue who handed Hayes his Championship debut, when he was managing Dublin against Wexford two years ago, he may regret unleashing a monster.

Donoghue's successor in the Dublin hotseat, Niall Ó Ceallacháin, can take plenty of credit for Hayes' development too. In the 13 Championship games that Dublin have played under Ó Ceallacháin across 2025 and 2026 so far, Hayes has started every one of them.

Ó Ceallacháin has always smiled wryly when asked to comment on Hayes' Rolls Royce engine and ability to cover so much ground during games. "He's got all the skills too," Ó Ceallacháin will typically shoot back.

The Kilmacud Crokes player, younger brother of Dublin forward Ronan, was man of the match against Kilkenny last time out, shoring up the defence as an auxiliary defender and generally patrolling the middle third.

One passage of play that highlighted his vast ability stuck out, the tall number number eight sliding down into a challenge, seizing control of the sliotar and somehow sliding/bouncing back up to stride away, all in one rhythmic movement.

"He has an incredible work rate," said Ó Ceallacháin. "Brian's a unique enough hurler, to be honest, as regards his physical abilities, as regards the ground he can cover, his pace in and out of possession. But his hurling has come on in leaps and bounds as well.

"Brian's a great example for anyone around, for any young lads coming up. He never hurled underage for Dublin. Minor, U-20, it never happened for him. Brian was a sub on his club's minor team, the Crokes minor team. He's 23 now, so that's not that long ago.

"For him, just that kind of resilience and the level of dedication to his own improvement in that time, it's a great testament.

"I always simplify the thing down; there's physical abilities, there's levels of skill and technical abilities that are crucial in this game but 80 percent of it is still your mindset, your attitude, your resilience, you actual determination, and Brian has that in spades."

Hayes' Crokes and Dublin colleague Fergal Whitely sees it a similar way.

"The sky's the limit for Brian," said Whitely, in his 10th season with Dublin. "He was unbelievable against Kilkenny, and has been all season really. I know you mentioned that he didn't play for the Dublin minors or 20s, but even when he came out of minor with Crokes, he was with our senior B team for a while. So he's a great inspiration for lads that you don't have to do it a certain way in terms of going through all the development squads."

Ó Ceallacháin nodded at the suggestion that if a player is going to bypass underage county teams and development squads to make it at the top level, it's more likely to happen in football.

"It's definitely rare, and I don't know 100% why," nodded Ó Ceallacháin. "If you ask Brian, he'd have no hard feelings as regards minor teams or 20s teams or anything like that.

"He has the mindset to be able to put his mind to actually really improve himself and he certainly did that for a couple of years. I would have, from a club perspective at Na Fianna, been very aware of Brian playing against us for a couple of years.

"Then to come in here, as a Dublin player, he's certainly improved in the last 18 months as well.

"But it's certainly...I agree on the hurling/football piece, it's really, really rare for that to happen in hurling.

"Sometimes it's about a bit of opportunity and a bit of trust as well. And when someone has the mindset that Brian has, a good few things are falling into place there."

Ó Ceallacháin took the opportunity to remind Hayes that he's still at the foot of the mountain. And Dublin intend to climb right to the very top.

"He needs to be fully at it again on Saturday," said the man who guided Na Fianna to the AIB All-Ireland club hurling title at the beginning of 2025.

"There's a big challenge ahead of Brian for Saturday. There's a bit more being said about him now and he'll undoubtedly be earmarked as regards being seen as a big and influential player for Dublin, so we have no doubt that he'll have some extra attention."