Dreams still come true for Ryan
The Cork manager is somewhat scattered, forgetting who exactly it was he gave his car keys to. “This is no country for old men,” he quips.
The conversation slowly turns to ladies’ football, the Rebel boss visibly relaxing with each passing sentence. It’s a cool Wednesday night at the Erin’s Own grounds, 10 days out from the All-Ireland final. Eamonn Ryan is in his element.
At 73, he is looked upon more as a fatherly figure than a manager. Ryan is 53 years older than the youngest member of Sunday’s team, Róisín Phelan. The bond forged with this group of players over the past 11 years beyond any adjective.
“There is nowhere else I’d rather be on a Wednesday night than down training with these players. It sounds a bit pathetic at my age,” he remarks.
“What keeps me going is the same thing that keeps the players going. What they enjoy doing, I enjoy doing. It was the same when I was with Sciath na Scol or Na Piarsaigh or Watergrasshill. I just enjoy this.
“The players love getting out for training. They enjoy the bit of profile they have, not in any big-headed way. This is what they do. It is a choice rather than a sacrifice. It is what they choose to do. It is what I choose to do.”
As if flicking through the pages of an old diary, Ryan trawls back through the years, stopping at 2004, the summer he “fell” into this job.
Cork played Kerry in Killorglin in the preliminary round of the Munster championship. They trailed by 3-9 to 0-4 at half-time. They were laughed off the field by a pocket of spectators. Cork had never won a Munster title. Seven weeks later a maiden provincial crown was delivered. On Sunday, eight members of that group are seeking their ninth All-Ireland title in 10 years.
“I was working in UCC, had been in hospital sick and was at a loose end really when I got a call enquiring as to would I give a hand for a few weeks with the ladies,” he explains.
Ryan had been out of inter-county management for two decades, training methods had moved on, progressed, evolved, revolutionised.
He wasn’t going to be left behind, educating himself on the musings of American authors — Geoff Colvin’s Talent is Overrated his latest read. Addressing the National Coaching Conference in Croke Park back in January, Ryan spoke of how his job is to serve the players not himself, of how the coach should be a peripheral figure in the overall picture. At the same event, retired footballer Juliet Murphy backed up Ryan’s assertion.
“Until I met Eamonn the only thing I used my left leg for was balance. He changed all that,” she said.
Continued Ryan: “In the first three or four months when I came in I put a huge emphasis on skill because their skill levels needed working on. And no matter how monotonous the drill was, you could see how willing and anxious they were to become better and better and that did give me an inkling that something might happen.
“When we started first 11 years ago there was a group of girls who had never won anything, Nollaig Cleary, Juliet Murphy, Elaine Harte and Deirdre O’Reilly. Then there was this younger group of girls, Briege Corkery, Rena Buckley, Norita Kelly and Bríd Stack, who had won underage, but that is no guarantee of senior success. We were lucky the girls who had never won anything had a huge influence over the girls who had won a lot and figuring they might be better than they were. The two crowds gelled even though there was a disparity in age. The older ones, to their eternal credit, groomed the younger girls. They seem to be doing exactly the same with the younger girls now coming through. The process is repeating itself.
“They would be a very humble group even though they are all high achievers. They would never question what you are doing or cast aspersions about your ability to train a team. They would just accept you are doing it in the right spirit and are willing to give it their best shot. They do anything you ask of them.”
Is it little wonder when you look at the father figure sitting at the head of the table.
Dublin have made two changes to their line-up for Sunday’s All-Ireland ladies football showdown with Cork.
Manager Gregory McGonigle has recalled Sinéad Finnegan at right half-back, the Fingallians defender having missed out on the quarter and semi-final victories over Kerry and Galway respectively due to a hamstring injury.
Further forward, Natalia Hyland is selected at centre-forward for her first championship start of the summer. The Ballyboden St Enda’s footballer lined out at midfield in Dublin’s 2010 All-Ireland final win. Martha Byrne and Niamh McEvoy are the two players to drop to the bench. Sinéad Goldrick skippers the side from centre-back.
Meanwhile, Cork have named an unchanged team from the side which hammered Armagh by 5-16 to 2-11 last time out.
Nollaig Cleary, who ended the semi-final as Cork’s top-scorer from open play (1-3) though only introduced as a second-half substitute, must again be content with a place on the bench. There is no starting berth either for Doireann O’Sullivan, who recently returned to full training following a knee injury.
Eamon Ryan’s selection features three players who will make their All-Ireland final debut on Sunday — Martina O’Brien, Róisín Phelan and Vera Foley.
There is redemption for goalkeeper O’Brien who was dropped for last year’s decider, while corner-back Phelan, at 20, stands as the youngest member of the first 15.
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