Darren Hayden County football
LIKE in mining, Darren Hayden is rare football gem to be treasured after its discovery.
He has won several awards as a juvenile player with Eire Og Greystones, captained their intermediate footballers to county and Leinster titles, and is one of the best wing-backs for the county to emerge in quite a while.
Darren is a true artist when he comes to 'painting pictures' with a football in hand, he is a true craftsman with a ball, speedy and can double as an attacking defender as well as a lethal forward.
Darren's father Paul Hayden was a stalwart during his playing days with Eire Og and won an intermediate football medal in 1985. He has been playing a role as a manager and team selector with his club to the present day.
Darren just missed out on a Tommy Murphy Cup medal as he had still to make the county team in 2007.He is one of the players that grow out of the rise to prominence of Eire Og at juvenile level and would have won an U-16 medal with the club in 2004.
Eire Og is now a very strong force in the county in both hurling and football and it's players like Darren Hayden who have been responsible for putting the club in a position of pre-eminence in the GAA in Wicklow. He is a very worthy winner of the county footballer of the year award.
