Canon Hayes had a vision to provide Tipperary town with a community resource that would be both enduring and far-reaching. The Recreation Centre named in his honour has gone a long way to fulfilling that wish and two years ago the centre inaugurated a series of awards to acknowledge sporting success at a local, county and national level.

In that short time the Canon Hayes National Sports Awards have become one of the most attractive of their kind in the country. With a little imagination and a lot of hard work the awards have brought a new side to the already multi-purpose Recreation Centre and preparations are now complete to present the 1998 version of awards in Tipperary next Friday.

Martin Quinn is part of the busy management committee that keeps the centre running smoothly and also plays a key role in the awards, starting with the nominations and ending as master of ceremonies on the night. "The idea sprang from both an acknowledgment of the local sporting talent and the promotion of the sports complex," he says.

"The initial project included scholarships for five local athletes and that led to the idea of the annual awards. We then decided to bring it to national standard also and so introduced the three levels of awards."

"It was John Canon Hayes who founded the community development organisation Muintir Na Tire when he was in Tipperary town and it was his idea back in the 1950s that the site here should be set aside for the community," adds Quinn. "When the centre finally came to fruition about 12 years back it was named after him for this reason and also to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death."

Before the announcement of the awards, the various categories were shortlisted into final nominations. The contenders for the Local Award are cyclist Diarmuid Carew and tennis player Clodagh McMorrow, both of Tipperary, golfer Marian Riordan from Limerick Junction, hammer-thrower Michael Grace from Oola, hurler and footballer Mark Leonard from Aherlow, and Galbally rugby player Jeremy Staunton.

The County Award will be decided between Tipperary footballer Declan Browne, Cork City soccer player Ollie Cahill of Clonmel, Tipperary junior football manager Seamus McCarthy and greyhound trainer Eddie Walsh of Cashel.

After careful consideration by the national judging panel, which included former Olympians John Treacy and Eamonn Coghlan, former Tipperary hurler and current Tipperary manager Nicky English and RTE commentator Micheal O'Muircheartaigh, the National Award contenders have been narrowed down to Sonia O'Sullivan, Brian Kerr and Michael Donnellan.

Each winner will receive the specially commissioned awards designed by Tipperary sculptor Jarlath Daly, with their names added to previous winners who include Catherina McKiernan and Michelle de Bruin at national level and last year's county winner Christy Roche.

It was Jim O'Shea, a recently retired detective officer and the chairman of the management committee that helped spearhead the development of the Canon Hayes centre. "We looked at a lot of sports centres around the country and what was and wasn't functioning in them," says O'Shea. "Our goal was to provide facilities here for everybody to use but also have the resources to satisfy more elite levels of sport.

"If you go into the gym you can see that, with our fitness instructor designing training plans for committed rugby players such as our own Alan Quinlan and older members who are looking for more general programmes of training."

Since the opening in October 1987, the centre has grown into the most important facility in Tipperary town. "We reckon there's well over 3,000 people using the facility each week and in addition a lot of local clubs and country teams use it as a base," says O'Shea. "There was a distinct lack of facilities in Tipperary town but we also wanted to provide the facility for the surrounding area of Munster."

The centre is certainly impressive. By lunchtime on any day of the week, the main hall will be busy with various activities, from basketball to indoor soccer. In addition, two squash courts, a handball court and fully-equipped gym attract all standards of participants. Many of those come from the two schools, St Ailbe's and St Anne's, situated beside the grounds, which also make full use of the floodlit outdoor facilities, including the tennis courts, hockey field and running track.

"We're all the time looking at further areas of expansion and we have submissions into the Department of Sport," explains O'Shea. "Our priority now would be another main hall because of the huge demand there and while the majority of the initial money was raised locally with very limited grants, we do need the support to fulfil these plans. We also want to expand our lounge and cafe area to increase the social dimensions of the centre."

This year there will be the extra bit of tension by holding off the announcement of the actual winners until the evening itself. Just another small step forward in the sporting leaps that the Canon Hayes centre has brought to Tipperary.