Time to prove a point

SINCE 1999, if you wanted to get an argument going inside Cork hurling, all you had to do was mention two words: Neil Ronan.

Up to the beginning of last year, having been taken off in practically every game he ever started with the county, the debate was whether or not he had the temperament for intercounty championship hurling.

His impact off the bench last year meant it became an argument over whether or not he had the temperament to start, whether he was better held in reserve, straining at the leash until the final quarter. Now, in light of his impressive start against Limerick in the All-Ireland quarter-final, the discussion has been refined even further: has he indeed finally proven himself to a doubting public?

Ronan’s talent was never in doubt. Even before he made his underage debut for Ballyhea — eight years old, jab-lifting at full speed, scoring points from the wing off left or right — he was a prodigy.

Initially, everything went to order; he played U-14, U-16 and minor with Cork, scored the winning point for Ballyhea in a county senior semi-final at 16, starred with St Colman’s to win Harty Cup and All-Ireland honours, won an All-Ireland U-21 medal with Cork in 1998 and a Fitzgibbon Cup with WIT shortly after. It should have all come together in 1999; instead it all fell apart.

Still only 19 (he wasn’t 20 until that September), he started every game as a precocious Cork side stormed to the All-Ireland title; in the last three games — Munster final, All-Ireland semi-final, All-Ireland final — he was taken off. That started the talk.

Former Clare manager Ger Loughnane remembers seeing Ronan at a challenge game, Cork v Clare, 1999; he was on Brian Lohan and scored eight points from play.

“He was devastating,” says Loughnane. “He didn’t play as your normal stand-up full-forward, he was moving from side to side, inside the 21, lightning stuff, played with great confidence. We were sure we’d see him again at full forward, in the championship.”

They didn’t, though it’s his best position; he never again played full forward that year for Cork, never started a championship match there. When he did finally appear there last year, off the bench, it was with immediate impact, against Clare — and Brian Lohan — in last year’s close call All-Ireland semi-final. Loughnane again: “In that game he was the single biggest reason Cork beat Clare; it wasn’t just the point he scored, the point he made for Joe Deane, it was the way he brought Brian Lohan out to the wing, under the Cusack Stand, created the channel down the middle through which Cork came storming in to score the points. Lohan had to go with him, couldn’t risk leaving him on his own.”

Outside the county, hurling aficionados charting his rise were surprised at his sudden demise.

“He was only about 19 back then, I thought this was going to be the real star of the Cork team for the future,” says Loughnane. “We all knew there was an outstanding Cork team coming; I remember speaking to Dick O’Neill, a selector with Kilkenny in ‘98, and he said, we’d better all win as much as we can now because Cork are coming with a super team. I would have regarded Neil Ronan as central to that team and that day in Páirc Uí Chaoimh reinforced that impression on my mind, that he was going to be part of a really dynamic Cork full-forward line, along with Joe Deane and Ben O’Connor. Next thing you know, he’s gone, disappeared, vanished.”

In 2000, he was taken off in Cork’s first championship game against Limerick, made a brief appearance in the loss to Offaly; 2001 another late appearance, in Cork’s only championship date, an opening round Munster loss to Limerick; 2002 he was even more peripheral; 2003 he was gone. On the bench alright as Cork and Setanta stormed back onto the national stage, beaten in the All-Ireland final, but just another number. In 2004 he was in Australia, watched Cork reach the peak again, fulfil the promise seen by Dick O’Neill and Ger Loughnane six years before.

“You hear about the professionalism of the current Cork set-up,” says Loughnane.

“There’s no doubt that it’s the best ever, but looking at Ronan, I feel his confidence could be better than it is. When he scores, you can see his reaction, his confidence soars, but I’d say that over the years, the fear built up in him that he was going to be taken off at any time had an adverse effect. He’s a finisher and a finisher needs to be close to the goals; when Ronan breaks through, he’s lethal, but he needs to be given ball, can win it high and low, could even play centre forward.

“John Allen is a sound guy, I think he’s decided Neil is ready to start again, a half forward going to score. Giving him the full game the last day, when others would have lost faith in the second half — even though he was still contributing as much as many others — that was vital.

“To win the three-in-a-row, Cork need another scoring forward; Neil Ronan is their best chance.”