Ryan takes time out as Tyrone end Rebel run

EAMON RYAN will take time out to consider his future in charge of Cork’s ladies senior football team following Saturday’s TG4 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat against Tyrone.

Ryan has overseen a remarkable period of success for a team that annexed seven successive Munster titles, five National League crowns and five All-Ireland titles in recent seasons.

Cork were going for a sixth successive TG4 All-Ireland SFC title but were stopped in their tracks by Tyrone, who ran out 3-11 to 0-13 winners at Banagher.

Ryan insisted that the seven-week break between the TG4 Munster final and the All-Ireland quarter-final was a hindrance to his team’s chances. Cork also carried injury concerns into the game and lost centre forward Ciara O’Sullivan and experienced defender Geraldine O’Flynn to knocks in the first half.

Cork led by 0-11 to 0-5 at half-time but Tyrone fought back and with Cork defenders Bríd Stack and Aisling Barrett sin-binned in the closing minutes, Tyrone scored two late goals to seal a famous win.

Ryan reflected: “There will be no rash decisions. They have put a lot of things on hold but I’m hoping they’ll all come back. But we didn’t discuss that. The girls were very quiet after and just dispersed. They’ve had a good innings but it was bound to end some time. It could have ended against Armagh in 2006 and it could have ended last year against Dublin (All-Ireland final). It’s very hard to keep the thing going all of the time.”

Cork defeated Clare in the Munster final on July 3 and had no competitive game before facing a Red Hand outfit which had stormed through the qualifiers.

Ryan said: “Seven weeks definitely made things harder. We hadn’t competitive matches and it’s hard to keep the buzz going. But of course, if we were in the qualifiers, we could have got a hard team and got knocked out in the first round. That’s the nature of sport and the allure of it as well – its unpredictability.”

Tyrone had come into the Cork game in blistering scoring form, having blasted 11-42 past Leitrim and Sligo in their qualifier matches. And Ryan admitted: “I was worried about Tyrone. But when we went six points up, that’s when I thought that any time we attacked, we were penalised. We couldn’t get the ball into our forwards at a time when we might have gone further ahead. The play kept going back to our goal and we were whistled back. Two referees rang me on Saturday night – one from Cork and one from elsewhere – wondering what I thought.

“I thought a lot of the decisions were strange. We have to take them but I’m still entitled to an opinion on them.

“Having said that, we had the chance of a goal (Laura McMahon) and didn’t take it. That could have been enough and would have made it harder for Tyrone. But they deserve great credit – they fought like mad and kept going.”

With Cork’s exit, a new name will be etched on the Brendan Martin Cup in September. The semi-final draw pitted Tyrone against surprise packets Kerry, while last year’s beaten finalists Dublin tackle Laois in what is a repeat of this season’s Leinster decider. Tyrone and Dublin have never won an All-Ireland senior title, Laois claimed their solitary success in 2001 while the last of Kerry’s 11 crowns was won back in 1993.