Kyle Hayes receives 2 year suspended sentence and €10,000 fine.

It was a brutal assault and should have yielded more than a slap on the wrist. Community service is hardly a Siberian gulag.

What happens if your first offence was a murder?

Thanks, I'll continue to blame the scumbag in question for what happened. And the scumbags that support him for being the ones responsible for such a travesty of a sentence

If we had enough prison places then he should have gotten a custodial. But we don’t and there are far worse animals on the street anyone annoyed he isn’t locked up has an agenda.

Roll on the five in a row! Hon Limerick.

Irish justice system is a joke, needs to be tougher

A lot of young men get involved in street fights and act like entitled assholes in Nightclubs.

I think his behaviour and actions on the night were appalling, and for all I know he is a complete ass the rest of the time too.

I just don't think he should be treated any worse than somebody else for the same crime.

And given the publicity I'd say he already has come out of it worse than another would, not to mind then giving him a prison sentence on top that nobody else would get.

Tell that to the guy with the busted eye socket.

Still he was convicted of violent disorder and not the more serious charge, is employed and has no other convictions.

I don't think it's unusual to see people convicted of more serious charges who get suspended sentences.

I would have been quite surprised if he had gotten a custodial sentence tbh.

Rightly or wrongly judges look very favourably on strong work records, first offences and being deemed at very low risk of reoffending, which I'm assuming was the case here. I don't think in sentencing terms he was treated any differently.

I'd imagine the judge would also have to respect the jury's finding that he was not guilty of assault. I know there were witnesses but I believe the defence was that his brother was also part of the fracas, that it was a chaotic event, and those witnesses might have been mistaken. I think the judge would have had to respect the jury finding that a reasonable possibility.

In terms of pleading guilty, it's hard to argue that he should have, given he was found not guilty for the more serious charge. He might even be quite sure he didn't land the blow that caused the harm.

Huge fcuker and serious athlete, imagine having him come at you in a drunken rage.

I'd say he's up to his neck in women too and this conviction will only enhance his badboy appeal.

Your good name is everything. Hayes has done damage to his. Due to Google it will follow him to the grave. Ideally he shouldn't be picked for Limerick again. The message needs to get out that violent crime will not be tolerated. The judge hasn't sent that out in his sentencing.

Mitigating circumstances is another load of codswallop. Good character references likewise. Your actions speak louder than words.

It's not just the physical injuries that trouble a victim of violence. The emotional damage can be life long.

It’s not hard at all to argue he should have plead guilty, could have saved everyone, including himself, the trouble and publicity of a trial, and received a far more lenient sentence. That’s kinda the point of pleading guilty when the prosecution have plenty of evidence to support the charges.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d received a custodial sentence, but it was only for his otherwise good character (there’s no point in other posters arguing if Joe Soap this, then that, because each case is determined on it’s own merits). He was treated differently both in terms of the verdict, and sentencing, precisely because of the circumstances outlined by the Judge. The idea that he is, in the Judges own words “a successful sportsman” undoubtedly played a part in determining sentencing -

The judge said he accepted Mr Hayes had no previous convictions, was of good character, a good worker, had raised money for charities, and is a “successful sportsman”.

However, the judge said he could “not ignore” that Mr Hayes had “significant culpability” in the events on the violent events on the night.

He added that the violent disorder inside and outside the nightclub were “linked”, and that Kyle Hayes and others acted in a “threatening and menacing” manner when they “followed Cillian McCarthy out of the nightclub”.

Maximum sentence for violent disorder is the same as that for assault - 10 years. He was let away very lightly with sentencing for both convictions suspended and an order to pay compensation of €10k to the victim, noting that the victim could still pursue a civil case should they wish to do so -

Judge Sheehan directed Mr Hayes to pay €10,000 in compensation to Cillian McCarthy who Judge Sheehan said was attacked by Mr Hayes and others on the night. The order is without prejudice to any civil proceedings now open to Mr McCarthy, the judge said.

If you play a sport at inter county level you are regarded by many as a role model for good bad or indifferent. Self control is the price you pay for it. Hurlers and footballers are generally looked up to, criticised and slavishly followed by people who have never played the sport and really don’t have a clue about it, for reasons that are inexplicable. I can’t see why a player in an amateur sport shouldn’t be chucked off the team and replaced. Growing up back in the day you could be taken off a team for simply using bad language or any other kind of misbehaviour, regardless of how good you were, in my neck of the woods anyway. Sport is a good thing, there are a majority of great people out there, but the bad apples need to be weeded out and left where they belong. Going around acting the hard man and the Do you know who I am? horseshit shouldn’t really be tolerated. Especially since most people in a niteclub won’t know or give a **** who you are.