Coach Ryan’s driving ambition

AS FAR back as 1967, he played in the All-Ireland football final against Meath; for years afterwards he remained active with Watergrasshill in both codes and his extensive coaching CV includes managing Na Piarsaigh senior hurlers along with a variety of teams when he was attached to UCC.

These days, Eamonn Ryan is most closely identified with the Cork Ladies Football team, acknowledged by the players as being the inspirational force behind their recent run of successes both in the league and championship.

Tomorrow in Croke Park, they contest another TG4 decider, unbeaten since they lost a quarter-final to Mayo in 2004 after winning their first Munster title and popular favourites to beat Dublin and make it five-in-a-row.

Explaining how he agreed to help at a time when he was “at a loose end” – and didn’t consider the implications of what he was committing himself to – he concluded after a few trials that the group of players included nine or 10 who were “obviously very good footballers” who had little success at underage. And none at senior level.

“There was another coterie of maybe 10 or 12 young girls who had won a lot underage. And, while it might not always happen that two such groups will merge nicely together, these did. The older girls led the way and the younger ones fell in line. That’s probably some of the reason that they had a bit of success since!’’

While agreeing that he is lucky to work with such a talented group of players, he stresses that it’s the commitment of the girls which makes the essential difference.

By way of illustration, he points out that Mairead Kelly has been driving down from Dublin to train twice a week – at her own expense – even though she isn’t a regular on the team, goalkeeper Elaine Harte makes the journey from Tipperary, where she is living and teacher Geraldine O’Flynn commutes from Portlaoise.

While he feels it is probably invidious to pick out just three, Ryan says that their dedication is symptomatic of just how committed the squad of players is.

Accepting that his team came closest to being beaten in their recent semi-final against Mayo since making the breakthrough four years ago, he says that after some appalling wides in the first half, the team had the self-assurance to keep fighting ‘til the end. “It was a close call, but we got the scores in the end,’’ he added.

Not surprisingly, after watching Dublin’s impressive showing against Monaghan in the other semi-final, he is expecting a very hard game tomorrow. Singling out international basketball player Lindsay Peat, he feels that she has made a huge difference to the team. “She’s a big strong girl, fairly athletic and she uses the ball well. Typical basketballer, when she wins it she’s always looking to give it to someone in a good position. I would not be overconfident at all, I’d be quite apprehensive,’’ he stated.

“They may lack experience, but they’ll probably have a huge support. I suppose the Dublin media will talk them up a good bit, but you don’t know how that will work. It can lift a team or it can prove a burden. I’d imagine they look quite a confident group, once they got Monaghan on the run they really took over.’’

Ryan says that while “nobody will believe him”, five in a row has not been talked about either by the management or players. “The mantra within the team would be that we are one more game nearer to being beaten at the end of all this. We’ll try and shove this back as far as we can rather than thinking of four in a row or five in a row.

“That would never be mentioned. But, we would be very conscious that when we are beaten that will be the end of it. And it will be kind of sad then."