Tipp forwards should take leaf out of Ryan’s book
The Tipperary hurlers were training in Thurles under the supervision of Babs Keating in his first incarnation as manager, with a few diehards seated in the Old Stand, keeping an eye on proceedings.
A ball broke out towards the wing but was controlled in a heartbeat with a one-handed flick – down and up and into the player’s hand and over the bar.
One of the spectators nodded and nudged his neighbour.
“Declan,” he said. That was enough.
The goldfish memories of the young may not manage to recall it, but Tipperary manager Declan Ryan’s authority in the dressing-room is part baton earned in battle, part character. He won All-Irelands in three different decades – 1989, 1991 and 2001 – but that alone doesn’t convey the presence. A story from that last campaign might.
Tipp’s goalkeeper, then as now, was Brendan Cummins. At one stage in the campaign the pressure began to get to the keeper a little, and he came looking for reassurance in the one place he knew he’d find it. Cummins sought out Declan Ryan in the team hotel and sat down with him.
There was barely a word spoken, Cummins recalled later, but Ryan’s presence was a comfort in itself, and the goalkeeper was reinvigorated for battle.
He was always regarded as a key opponent by other teams. At a recent event in Ennis, Dublin manager Anthony Daly recalled how he first suspected Clare might have a gem in Seanie McMahon, quiet as he was; Daly said he turned around in a league game to find McMahon and Ryan “wearing the hurleys” off each other.
He’s not bad, thought Daly of his new teammate, gauging him against his opponent.
Ryan rarely spoke to the media when he was a player and has not become a sudden convert to lengthy discussion now that he’s an intercounty manager. Lar Corbett was first into the press area after last Sunday’s win over Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final, and fielded a couple of questions before he was joined by Ryan.
The two men played together ten years ago when Tipp won the All-Ireland and Ryan eased into his media duties by asking his one-time teammate if he was interrupting.
He played a straight bat, complimenting Dublin and suggesting Kilkenny would find little enough to worry about in Tipperary’s performance.
He was right, of course. Tipperary weren’t as fluent as they were in the Munster final, though it was clearly ridiculous to expect a repeat of their seven-goal performance (though there was one team in Croke Park who produced six goals on Sunday: the Dublin minors in the curtain-raiser).
He will probably be a little concerned this week about the apparent lack of mongrel among some of his attackers, though. At times in the first half last Sunday some Tipperary attackers didn’t show the same level of commitment as their Dublin counterparts, and it was hardly surprising that Ryan withdrew four of his starting forwards towards the end.
They could do worse than look to their manager for how to proceed. From that same All-Ireland-winning campaign in 2001 Cummins tells a story from their game against Clare.
When Tipperary were a point ahead with one minute left, the goalkeeper had the ball in his hand, ready to puck it out. As he looked upfield, one Tipp player was pointing to where he wanted the sliotar to land: Cummins obliged, and the Tipp player contested the dropping ball. When it broke over the sideline he started a row, and stood in front of the ball, and the game broke down, with Tipp eventually winning.
Needless to say, the player was Declan Ryan. He didn’t need to start rows to be a star – he was an uncommonly skilful ball-player who looked even more elegant because he was left-handed – but he knew when the game needed to be broken up. It’s an irony that the one piece of the jigsaw missing for Tipperary in 2011 may be that they don’t have the Declan Ryan of 2001.
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