Nov 24,2024
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 make sure that that cycle and that standard stays the same.
The freedom she plays with marks her out among the best.
"I'd be a very energetic character in life anyway," she says. "And I think I play my best when that kind of comes out in the field. I think if I was too, like, intense about preparation or anything, I don't think that that suits me.
The coffee trailer, set up a fortnight before the All-Ireland final, is called Full Of Beans, a clever play on the core business, but also the proprietor’s tendencies.
It is going down a bomb, with the people of Conna hugely supportive and only mad to chat camogie. She loved bringing the O’Duffy Cup back around and seeing how proud people were.
It’s in her make-up that she wants new mountains to climb.
"I said I'd go over to Thailand and kind of find myself but no answers yet," she says. "I'd love to expand the coffee business, and go further with it.
"I wish I could just be happy with it and just say, 'That's what I'm happy with.’ But within a month I was like, ‘Okay, what's next?’ I loved the challenge of getting it up and running, and then, thank God, the community has been so good. But we’ll see what’s next."
Winning the club lotto has funded her travelling trip to Thailand, jetting off to Vietnam first in a few weeks.
"I had a tough year last year. I lost two of my grandparents, and camogie gives you a purpose to play for them and you and for your family."
"This year is such a complete polar opposite. It makes you take it all in.
"When it is tough, there’s so many positives to camogie. It’s such an escape and if there's things going on outside of it, it's always another purpose. When I’m playing camogie, I don't really think about anything else. I can really, really switch off from it. I'm just in that kind of happy place, you know? I'm around all my best friends."
