Hayes: I was never going to turn the Ross job down

THE opportunity to manage Carbery Rangers has come earlier than Seamus Hayes has envisaged, but he was never going to turn down his home club.

It wasn’t a call that the 40-year-old was expecting in December 2022, but when previous manager Declan Hayes had to step away for family reasons, the Rosscarbery club turned to one of their 2016 Cork SFC-winning heroes.

‘It was a little bit sooner than I had anticipated,’ Hayes admits, as he was still building his coaching experience. He was involved as a coach/selector with the UCC freshers footballers, coaches teams in his school Coláiste Chriost Rí and has worked at all underage levels with Ross, too. Add in a season with Kilmeen in 2015 when the club won the West Cork U21 title as well.

‘The phone call was out of the blue and it was unexpected.

‘Ideally I would have waited another few years but when I met the lads, when they told me they wanted me in the position and when I was able to get the people I wanted to stay onboard, that made the transition easier.

‘I was never going to turn this down, not when it’s the Ross job.’

Hayes didn’t play senior football in 2022, but did line out with the club’s juniors last season, so after one season away from the Ross senior set-up he is back – and now as manager. The dynamic is different, however. The player has become the boss.

‘That was something that definitely crossed my mind when Sean Hayes spoke to me about the job, but I have to say it’s been seamless. The experienced players who I know better and would have played with for longer, I value their experience and input. The younger lads, I coached nearly all of them on the way up so they are well used to my management style and what is expected,’ Hayes explains, and there is that line of separation as he crossed the white line, from player to manager.

‘That happened naturally, as soon as I became the manager,’ he says.

‘The dynamic has changed. I went golfing with Darragh Hayes one day and he said “this is like going golfing with my teacher!” They do know that the separation exists but at the same time we all live in the same area, we are all Ross men, and once we leave the football pitch that managerial line disappears; well, it does for me.’

The collective goal they all share is for Ross to make an impact in the county championship. Last season they emerged from their group and rattled Nemo Rangers in a quarter-final, only losing 2-4 to 0-9. Hayes wants to build on that platform laid by previous boss Declan Hayes, and that journey starts against a familiar rival this Friday night in their Group A opener: it’s Castlehaven in Clonakilty (8pm). As a player, Hayes had fierce battles with the Haven. He expects more of the same.

‘We know what we’ll get from Castlehaven and they know what they’ll get from us; we have played so much over the years. Of course you have that derby element too, but there are two points up for grabs as well – and that’s what every team wants on the opening weekend,’ he says.

Hayes will plan without Alan Jennings (hand injury) and his brother John Hayes (calf injury) for the championship opener, but feels Ross has enough talent in their ranks to trouble a Castlehaven team expected to be in contention for the big prize. The experienced core is still there, with John O’Rourke, James Fitzpatrick, John Hayes, Brian Shanahan and Paul Shanahan all players Seamus Hayes soldiered alongside. Add in the younger generation like Darragh Hayes, Kealan Scannell, Barry Kerr, Peadar O’Rourke and Jack Kevane, and Rangers have a good mix. Their county league Division 1 campaign was a learning experience for the management and players, as Ross avoided the drop with a final-game win against Cill na Martra, and Hayes saw improvement throughout the campaign. The task now is to carry that into the games against Castlehaven, Clonakilty and Valley Rovers in the weeks ahead.