A clean criminal record and no All Ireland medals or a medal and a conviction?

The household I was brought up in was one in which an All-Ireland medal winner was a man to be looked up to. Revered, even.

When I was a young lad, and I know there are many GAA families and households around the country with the same view, the thought of winning an All-Ireland medal was at the apex of my wildest dreams and ambitions.

I have read of men being buried with their medals, and the special place those men occupied in the eyes of their local parish and county.

Kyle Hayes has 5 senior All Ireland medals. And now has a criminal conviction for two counts of violent disorder.

Now I think about a hypothetical question and it’s this: at 60 or 65 years of age and looking back on my life would I choose to have no All Ireland medals, a clean criminal record and a good name and reputation?

Or would I be willing to have a criminal conviction, a stain on my good name and reputation, but if it meant I would have the medals?

I wonder what others would choose, too.

And in what numbers. I might even make a video about it and carry out some type of rough poll.

P.S. Yes, I know this is not a binary choice. The vast majority of All-Ireland medal winners have no criminal convictions.

And there is no correlation between the two.

But it is a hypothetical question that has crossed my mind since the Kyle Hayes prosecution commenced.