Cork boss Ryan feels ‘hard done by’ at eight week ban

CORK ladies football boss Eamonn Ryan believes he was ‘hard done by’ in being handed an eight-week suspension arising out of an incident at last month’s All-Ireland decider.

Ryan received the ban at a disciplinary meeting in Tullamore on Wednesday night after he was alleged to have been involved in an altercation with a Croke Park steward during Cork’s success over Dublin which completed a historic five-in-a-row of titles.

“It was alleged that I told an official, a guy in a yellow bib, to go away,” revealed Ryan yesterday. “They claimed I said it in unparliamentary language but I didn’t. I just told him to go away and that I was tired of all this. I think I was a bit hard done by. You might have wondered if I kicked him would I have only got four weeks. But I got my punishment and that’s it.

“It doesn’t take away at all from our success. When you’re a selector and you put yourself up, people can get tired of you at some stages. You also know you can run foul of the law. I’ve no problem, I’ll serve my suspension of two months. Basically the official reported it to the referee, the referee reported it to the committee and that’s it. I’m not happy about it, but the sun is still shining and life goes on.”

Ryan, who was yesterday named Boardwalk Sportstar Of The Month for September in Cork, also stated his enthusiasm for staying on in charge of the Cork ladies side next year but did reveal that the squad will be hit by the absence of players travelling, most notably dual star Briege Corkery.

“There’s some talk of one or two going travelling which will put a different aspect on the thing. But as of yet, we’re not sure how many. We know Briege is definitely going. She’ll be a fierce loss. It is a big commitment being in charge but if I’m not there, I’d be doing something else. At my age the alternatives aren’t great, some cemetery somewhere maybe! If it isn’t the Cork ladies, it’ll be Watergrasshill hurlers or someone else. I just enjoy doing that.”

Ryan also revealed the fear of their extraordinary winning run ending is the motivation behind Cork’s pursuit of All-Ireland crowns. “We never talked about five-in-a-row this year, but we talked about how we’d a very good few years and we all enjoyed it. We knew it was going to an end so we made a pact to keep that day as far away as possible. That was the biggest motivation we had. This is a very loyal, talented and committed bunch. Of all the teams I’ve ever dealt with, they’re up there with any of them. They’ve won 15 national trophies in five years. They’ve enjoyed it and want more. There’s no secret beyond that.”