Retiring Ronan Gormley drove Irish hockey’s ‘no excuses’ mantra

By Stephen Findlater

“It dawned on me last week; looking back on our careers, we absolutely nailed it,” Ronan Gormley says.

One of Irish hockey’s most important players has formally hung up his stick at 35 after 256 international caps, 121 as captain, with former coaches Craig Fulton and Dave Passmore citing him as the beating heart of the Green Army’s rise from 25th in the world to the top 10.

It brought him a first-ever European championship bronze medal in 2015 and a part in Ireland’s appearance at the Olympic Games for the first time in over a century when he lined out in Rio.

He becomes the third player from the Rio team to retire following John Jermyn and Mikey Watt.

The teak-tough defender had endeavoured to play on, playing a pivotal role in the World League Round 2 in Stormont in March 2017 when many teammates were taking a break.

It was not intended to be his swansong as he and Fulton both wanted him to stick around at least until the World Cup — a first since 1990 — later this year.

“It is hard to think about the fact that it is done but it is nice to reflect and hear people talk about how successful it has been,” Gormley said.

“After World League 2, I still had a desire to continue but with the birth of my second child, things became very different. Living in Germany, we don’t have family around to fill in. Between that and the job, it was all just too much.”

He steps away knowing he could not have done much more to further the Green Machine’s cause, coming into what former coach Dave Passmore described, unapologetically, as “a bit of a pub team” in 2004.

Now, the side has been resident in the top 10 for two years despite being the only nation in the top-tier without a full-time programme in place.

“When I was looking back on my career, as a team and our achievements, from where we started to now, we really did nail it. There were a huge amount of barriers and a lot of low points but you list off the things and what we achieved from 2003 to now, it is truly amazing.

“Those that were involved went above and beyond to things no one expected of them and achieved things most said they couldn’t.”

Born in Cork, Gormley moved to England early in life before returning to Ireland in his mid-teens where he was initially told he lacked the sprint-speed to make international grade. He duly spent a summer with a singular focus on becoming more explosive, showing his “relentless determination” in the words of Fulton.

It was indicative of his drive to never accept second-best, demanding high standards despite the financial and structural limitations, something that developed into Ireland’s “no excuses” mantra.

Passmore gave Gormley his big push on the international stage in 2005 and soon built his team around him and David Harte. “His voice was pivotal in the player-centred environment we tried to create but it was always his actions that stood out. He was the type of character that was always looking for an edge.”

The lows saw the side agonisingly miss out on Olympic qualification by a single goal on two occasions but the highs surpassed them. While he has many highlights, Gormley did pick out playing in the 2012 Champions Challenge as one “never to be forgotten”.

Hockey Ireland had withdrawn the national side from the competition only for the Irish public to raise €65,000 within a week to fund their journey to Argentina; their support was rewarded by a bronze medal.

The Euro bronze, though, was probably the pick of the bunch, beating England in London as he played through a broken bone in his wrist.

“We were down a player already and Paul Gleghorne was carrying his shoulder injury, . We didn’t need another injury

so I pushed through. As long as I could get two feet on the pitch, I was always going to play. The wrist was strapped heavily with hard padding underneath my hand. We tried to even strap it to the stick so all I could actually do was stop the ball and paddle it on my backhand down the line. I don’t think England ever worked it out.”