Ryan: My name wasn’t authorised to be put in letter

LONGFORD manager Glenn Ryan has distanced himself from a letter sent to RTÉ by inter-county managers.

The former Kildare star’s name is believed to be on the letter sent to the Donnybrook studios calling for commentator Brian Carthy to be given more high-profile games.

However, when contacted by the Irish Examiner, Ryan said he had not authorised his name being added to the seven other co-signatures.

“I haven’t been asked one way or another whether I agree or disagree,” he said. “No one has contacted me.”

Ryan did not express his views on the subject but asked to be left out of all references to it.

The news will come as a blow to Mickey Harte who yesterday said on RTÉ radio that he would not speak for the others on the letter and allow them to speak for themselves.

“I will leave them to speak for themselves but Kieran McGeeney is one that I have been speaking to recently but I am sure that it will soon be in the public domain who the others are.”

However, the Irish Examiner has learned that the names on the letter sent by Harte are Kieran McGeeney (Kildare), Kevin Walsh (Sligo), Brian Cody (Kilkenny), Mickey Moran (Leitrim), Justin McNulty (Laois), Conor Counihan (Cork) and Ryan.

“It is no great concerted effort,” said Harte.

“It is just a few of us chatting among ourselves and lots of managers have not even been asked about this at all. There is no big orchestrated affair, it is just friends standing up for a friend, that’s what we are doing.

“The concerns are that he has been commentating for over 25 years toe-to-toe with Michéal Ó Muircheartaigh and the very time that Michéal retires from that role, Brian has been reduced in his role when you would expect that to be upgraded.”

Asked whether he was letting his friendship with Carthy cloud his judgement he said: “Not at all. Brian Carthy is friends with many people and he has built that up over time because of the kind of man that he is.

“So it is not about that. It is about having respect for someone who gives you respect. We are not in the business of telling RTÉ sport what they should do.

“I think that we are more in the business of alerting them to the fact, that may be escaping them at the moment that lots of people out there who know the quality that Brian Carty brings to Gaelic games commentating and that they are aware that the opportunities that should be coming his way, at least shared with others, they don’t seem to be doing that.”

Last weekend Justin McNulty blocked his players from speaking to all media and the situation could escalate further this weekend with several sides in action.

However Harte was adamant he was in the right position and asked his knockers to look into the rights and wrongs of RTÉ’s decision.

“Let’s face it, it is not about that and it is interesting that the people who are lambasting us and the stand we are taking in the middle of all this they have given no credence to the fact that there may be some substance behind what we are saying and nobody seems to delve into the substance.

“For example, for the two top commentary projects this year, the national league finals, he was not afforded any of those opportunities and indeed it was leaked to newspapers before it was known to him that he was not getting them.

“It is good sometimes to take a step back, to look at the bigger picture, open the eyes and minds to the possibility that just maybe somebody out there could add value to your presentation and maybe you don’t have all the answers inside your own little cocoon.”