A judge at Limerick Circuit Court has told Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes that he will avoid a three-month jail sentence if he is deemed suitable for community service.
Judge Dara Hayes suggested Kyle Hayes should serve 180 hours of unpaid community service in lieu of him revoking three months of his suspended sentence for violent disorder.
A community report will now be prepared by the probation service and the matter will be before the court again in April.
At the start of the hearing, defence barrister Liam Carroll said the court should be aware that Hayes' maternal grandmother had passed away on Tuesday and the funeral was taking place this evening.
However, he said his client was "happy to face the music" and would accept his fate.
Judge Hayes then outlined how in March of last year, Hayes received a two-year suspended sentence on two counts of violent disorder inside and outside a nightclub in Limerick City in 2019.
He was acquitted of assaulting local man, Cillian McCarthy on the same night.
A condition was that he remain on good behaviour and not commit any other offences.
Then last September he was convicted for dangerous driving.
The court heard he was speeding at 155 kilometres per hour when he overtook nine vehicles on the N20 near Mallow.
His appeal for the lesser conviction of careless driving was rejected and he was banned from driving for two years and fined €250.
The dangerous driving conviction triggered a Section 99 hearing over whether the original suspended sentence should be revoked
The five times All-Ireland winning hurler looked relieved as he left court with his parents and other members of his family.
Judge Hayes said Hayes was a talented and highly decorated hurler who in no way sought preferential treatment in court on account of his public status.
The judge said he raised these achievements to reinforce that they would have no bearing on his decision to revoke all, part or none of the suspended sentence.
He also said the evidence given by Liam Hayes, that he was totally reliant on his son to run the dairy farm due to ill health, would not sway the court in its decision.
He said defence counsel, Brian McInerney had made a "reasonable observation" that the dangerous driving conviction was of a wholly different character to the violent disorder.
He also said there were no aggravating factors such as the consumption of intoxicating substances or driving without a licence or insurance.
His Audi A6 was also in road worthy condition.
Judge Hayes said that a community service order would be more constructive than a short prison sentence.
He ordered the preparation of a probation and community service report to finalise the case and set aside a date for mention in April.
