Eamonn Ryan returning to his roots

Eamonn Ryan surprised a few people when he fell in with the Cork senior football management team.

His years with their female counterparts had yielded such a rich harvest that observers saw them as inextricably linked, but Ryan goes back with the men’s side. He had, of course, managed the men in the 80s.

Still, that’s a considerable difference in time: it means Ryan trained Cork teams long before many of the current players were born. However, when you ask the Watergrasshill man about training in general, he stresses the openness of this generation of Cork footballers when it comes to taking lessons on board.

“We have quite a number of long-term injuries at the moment, which doesn’t help with training, but, in fairness to the lads, they’re very good to train — very committed, very open to any suggestions.

“They’re very good lads, I’d have to say that. Obviously there’s quite a big age gap, but they’re very open, which is great.”

The two games Cork have played so far in this year’s league have been a study in contrasts — a brisk dismissal of Mayo at home, and a heavy defeat away to Donegal. Ryan is frank about them: “In terms of the Mayo game, they were in a bit of disarray in that they hadn’t been together that long, and they were short a few players. On the other hand, our performance was very good but with the benefit of hindsight I’m not sure how much you could ascribe to our good play, or to Mayo’s shortcomings. “The Donegal game was quite disappointing, obviously. To sum it up in a nutshell I think our players just didn’t do themselves justice. That happens in league matches, and it’s early in the season, but I think the players would have been disappointed themselves. They’re realistic, humble lads, they’d realise our performance left a lot to be desired.”

Ryan’s vast experience peeps through when you ask about keeping things in perspective — not too high in victory, not too low in defeat.

“That’s true, but you have to factor in the human element. It’s only human to feel good after a good win, and to be down when things go against you. That’s true of life in general, not just sport, and I’d understand why lads would feel good after the Mayo match, and vice versa after playing Donegal. You’d just be hoping the fact that it’s early in the season would account for that.” Roscommon face Cork tomorrow afternoon in Pairc Ui Rinn. They surprised Kerry the last day out, and though the two-week break may not have helped their momentum, Ryan expects the Connacht side to be “buzzing”.

He explained: “They’ll present a huge challenge. Coming up to the first division — and this isn’t being negative in any way — their aim would have been first and foremost to hold their place in the first division. “The win over Kerry will be huge for them from a confidence point of view, and they’ll be buzzing tomorrow. There’s a huge challenge there for our lads to get up to that level, because having beaten Kerry, who are the benchmark for most teams, Roscommon’s confidence levels will be high, and that makes it more difficult for us.” A day will come when Ryan isn’t asked about his years of glory with the ladies footballers, but not right now, when he hasn’t been two full months with the men.

“With the ladies footballers I couldn’t have gotten any more in terms of their co-operation and their commitment - it was top class, and I’d hold them in the very highest regard. I’m very new to this, so the jury’s still out.

It’s nice people are so generous about that time with the ladies footballers, we had a great run. I’d be a hypocrite if I said I didn’t like hearing about that. But I’m less than two months with the men, so it’s still pretty new.”

Still learning. Still teaching.