Barr has added guile to Con, says Hayes
By Daire Walsh
Cork Constitution lock Brian Hayes has hailed the impact made by coach Paul Barr ahead of their latest appearance in an All-Ireland League decider this weekend.
Following their comprehensive win over Dublin University at Temple Hill last Sunday, Con will compete at the final stage for a fourth year in succession.
Having gained a reputation for their physical approach in recent seasons, the return of Barr to the senior management team — alongside Director of Coaching Brian Hickey — has added a fresh dimension to their play.
“Paul Barr came back in this year and we changed a lot of the way we played. There’s been a big change in emphasis. It’s evident in the way we played the league this year, the standings and how that ended up,” Hayes explained at the final launch in Dublin yesterday.
“Aidan Moynihan has come in at 10 and pulled the strings very well. He’s moving us around the pitch a lot better than we had been.
“We’ve young fellas on the wing that are finishing tries that they really shouldn’t be finishing. Which helps a lot as well.”
For the third time in just four campaigns, Clontarf will provide the final opposition for Con at Lansdowne Road on Sunday afternoon (kick-off 3pm).
A ’Tarf side featuring future Munster and Ireland out-half Joey Carbery had the measure of Con in the 2016 showpiece, before the Leesiders gained revenge at the same stage 12 months later.
They have already completed the double over the north Dubliners in this season’s top flight, but will need to produce another big display if they are to add to their five titles at this level.
Despite finishing 11 points clear of ’Tarf in the regular season standings, Hayes is a strong advocate for the league’s current structure.
“I’m grateful most of the time for the fact that it’s a league and having the day out is a lot better too. In the sense of a competitor, if you had won the league by 11 points we would have been playing the last three games of the league for no reason.
To have the day out and to have those two games, it’s definitely something that I think is valued and probably gives that bit more of a crowning achievement if you actually do it.
Likewise ’Tarf are backboned by experienced operators like David Joyce, Matt D’Arcy and skipper Michael Noone.
They enter the weekend’s action on the back of consecutive victories against 2017/18 winners Lansdowne, which makes them a dangerous prospect for Hayes and his Con compatriots.
“If you’re going to do it the hard way, it’s beating the champions two times in-a-row, isn’t it? We see a lot of similarities in Clontarf to ourselves.
“We’ve played them for years, won a final [in 2017] and the same five or six fellas were in the same five or six positions for both teams that day.
“When we won two years ago, I think we won six or seven on the bounce including beating Lansdowne, who finished top, in the semi-final.
“We had a good result too on Sunday, so it’s all the one. They started like a house on fire and then had that bit of a rough patch, but it’s two [knockout] games you need to win really when it boils down to it,” Hayes said.