Michael Ryan on the end of his Waterford term: ‘I’m still meeting people giving out about that decision’

In this extract from Michael Ryan's new book, The Road from Ballymac, he recalls the controversial end to his term as Waterford hurling manager in 2013 and the ‘greatest day of his sporting life’, the 1998 ladies football final win

Mon, 01 Mar, 2021 - 07:00

Michael Ryan

Michael Ryan has guided 32 ladies football teams to All-Ireland glory, beginning with his own beloved Ballymacarbry and Waterford. He managed Laois and Dublin too before he turned his attention to the men’s game, leading the Waterford and Westmeath hurling teams. In this extract from his new book, The Road from Ballymac, Ryan recalls the controversial end to his term as Waterford hurling manager in 2013 and the ‘greatest day of his sporting life’, the 1998 ladies football final win.

August 7, 2013

I didn’t have any indication that there was a problem until Pat Grant rang me from the county board.

I got the phone call on Wednesday night, just after 10.30pm. Pat told me that the Waterford players wanted a change of management.

‘Oh?’.

I was very surprised.

For once in recent times we’d given Kilkenny a proper game of it. We lost 1-22 to 2-16 after extra time. I remember Brian Cody telling me after that he thought they were gone. Above all the games I was ever involved in, the feedback from the supporters was incredible.

A lot of people loved the style of hurling we played that night.

Derek McGrath texted me.

He was sitting beside my daughter at the game, and he told me that he doubted if he’d ever seen any Waterford team play with such pride and such passion.

I felt it was the start of something.

My term was up. My two years were done. I was asked after that game if I wanted another term? ‘Absolutely… no question about it. It’s up to the county board.

‘My name will be in the hat… as I imagine will the rest of the management team.’ Jimmy Payne told me that he felt that there were one or two people possibly working behind the scenes. He was saying that before the year was over.

What that was based on? I don’t know.

Myself and Pat Flanagan had started to plan for the coming year. We had one or two meetings down in The Ramada. Maybe I was foolish to assume that we would be reappointed.

I was very surprised.

Then again, looking back, nothing should surprise you. I’d seen enough over the years to know that these things do happen.

I couldn’t believe it. I honestly couldn’t believe it.

The players were having a meeting on the Sunday morning. And I knew it was going ahead.

August 8

The following morning, at 9am in Lawlors Hotel in Dungarvan I met the county board and they filled me in on it.

‘If I were you, I’d stay put,’ one of the officials advised me. ‘The county board will certainly elect you again. What I would do… I would get all the players into a room and open the door… and say if anyone wants to walk out… they can walk out now.’

‘What happens if everybody walks out?’ I replied. I’d seen what happened with Justin McCarthy in Limerick.

‘No,’ I said, ‘I’m not going down that road.’

August 9

It was very much up in the air.

I spoke to Kevin Moran. He was away. His head was fried from the whole thing. I spoke to Brick as well. The bottom line was I knew that they were going to have the meeting. I decided that whatever was going to happen, let it happen.

I didn’t go ringing a dozen players trying to change their minds.

August 10

I was at Clonmel Óg on Saturday evening. They had a function, and I was invited as manager of the Waterford senior hurling team.

I still knew the players’ meeting was going ahead, there’s no point saying otherwise. I knew what was coming down the tracks.

I did. I had a fair idea what was on those tracks.

August 11

I remember exactly where I was. I was in the Millfield watching The Nire playing football against Ballylanders.

Noel Connors rang me. He jumped right in. ‘We had a meeting… and the players decided they want a change.’ ‘Fair enough!’ What else could I say? And that was it.

It was very courteous. Noel is a nice fella.

I rang Timmy O’Keeffe, the secretary and told him I was pulling out. At the end of the day, if the players aren’t happy they can just stop playing.

Then that was it. Decision made.

At the same time, I was just so disappointed. And, the next thing, the phone starts ringing. Right, left and centre. People giving out, people complaining.

Waterford were playing Kilkenny in the All-Ireland minor semi-final that day.

I spent a good bit of that game on the phone, talking to Pat Flanagan and one or two other people. Speaking to Pat was the defining thing for me. His advice was solid. He said he wouldn’t advise me to throw my name in the hat because, if the players don’t want somebody, they can decide to stop playing and then all the support will soon dwindle. The proof of that was in Limerick with Justin.

That night, I went to my local pub, Doocey’s and I had a couple of pints!

When I walked in, there was total silence. It was like John Wayne had walked through the doors, not me!

Everybody looked around, and everybody went silent. After about 60 seconds, I moved down to my little corner.

I’d always go in on a Sunday night. A championship game, a league game, a win or a loss, it didn’t matter. I’d go in at twenty to eleven, for an eleven o’clock closing. Doocey’s is a pub you wouldn’t be staying all night once Tony calls time!

We had our own little corner. People like Pat Power, Thomas Kelly, Jim Wall and Josie Hogan; we’d sit down and have a chat. It’s interesting to hear what people think. I believe you need to be able to do that. That’s unwinding.

I wasn’t going to go hiding. I went on as if nothing had happened, and as if I had nothing to hide.

I had nothing to hide.

No point in crying about it.

Someone broke the ice.

My resignation had just been announced on The Sunday Game.

I remember that distinctly.

August 12

On the Monday night, I was sitting down at home and the landline phone rang. I had been sitting in the same chair at home a few days earlier when Pat Grant called me.

‘Michael Ryan… Jimmy Barry-Murphy here!

‘I just want to say I can’t believe what happened. The same thing nearly happened me.’ The man had gone to the trouble of looking up my number.

Ger Loughnane sent me a nice text and told me I did a good job. ‘The problem now is they’re all looking for Mr Magic and there’s no Mr Magic.’

The phone was hopping from the minute the news broke. Loads of people texting and ringing. The same words… ‘I can’t believe what happened.’

Ever since that day, there’s not one week that goes by that people don’t tell me how disappointed they were. I’m still meeting people giving out about that decision. Not alone from Waterford, from all over the country. I’d say for the first month, I must have met 500 people.

For a week, that support helped. It did. But six months later, when somebody says it, it isn’t that you’re annoyed by it, it’s just you’ve moved on from it and suddenly it’s fresh in your mind again.

I know people who haven’t gone to games since. I know serious Waterford supporters who have not gone to a game since. I’d like to tell them… ‘Look, it’s gone… it’s done. I’ve long moved on.’ It’s like everything in life. If you’re sick and you don’t die quickly, people lose interest. Within a couple of days, it’s always about something else. It happened with a couple of Waterford managers. What happened to me was just another chapter.

August 15

Championship Matters on RTÉ Two. Marty Morrissey is looking at me.

Marty Morrissey: ‘I get the feeling Michael Ryan, you want this job… would I be right to say that?’

Me: ‘Of course I want this job. I think I have something to offer. I have maybe a different style of management to other people… I believe in assembling a good backroom team and delegating. Every facet of our backroom team was outstanding… and I think I have a lot to offer. Going forward I hope to be involved in Waterford hurling in the future.’

Marty Morrissey: ‘So really, what you’re saying is you are going to go for it?’

Me: ‘We’ll have a serious look at it Marty… and see what happens.’

I did the Championship Matters programme with Marty on the Thursday. The researcher, Aoife Sheehan from Limerick rang me and asked me to come on the programme.

Why not? I thought.

My daughter, Michelle drove me up.

I knew I’d nothing to be afraid of… I’ll just tell my side of the story. I wanted to make sure that the truth would be told. Liam Rushe and Joe Canning were on the same night.

I told my story. When I was doing that interview, I was considering all the options. Then, when I really weighed it all up I thought to myself… I don’t want the hassle of this!

Driving back home from Dublin that night, myself and Michelle had a chat about it. She’d be very analytical and have a cool light of day look at something.

We went through it, and I told her what I had decided... ‘I’m staying away from it.’ I had thought it all through.

If I came back in… if the county board appointed me? Where would that leave me? Lose one or two matches… all the questions.

I felt that I was leaving it in a very good position. I was packing it in almost from a position of strength, with regard to the world and the public. There’s going to be hassle about this… and I don’t want that hassle.

I’ve never doubted, not once since driving down that night from Dublin, that it was the right decision. Disappointment remained, of course it did. We were in a good place at that time, and we haven’t set the world on fire since. We got to an All-Ireland final and could have won it but have we set the world on fire since?

Would I have done any better? I don’t know. I don’t like the term unfinished business, but I would have liked one more year to see what we could have done.

The following year, we were relegated and only won one championship match. I can’t guarantee what we would have done but I would have liked one more year because there were a few young players coming through. Austin Gleeson came through. Ger Cunningham, a coach from Limerick, was with me for a few sessions. I had spoken to Ger Cunningham. I felt I had him lined up.

We would have been looking at some of the older players, told them their time was up. We would have been thinking about some fellas. We had spoken about that, that we needed to change things up, but never really pinpointed who.

It lingered for a little while, it did. It put me thinking about the whole thing. Is it worth it? Is it worth what you go through? Is it worth the time you put in… the time everybody else puts in? You’d question your sanity… is this worth the hassle of it? You probably think for a little while it isn’t, but time is a great healer; other things happen and life goes on.

If you let it get you down, it will get you down. You just move on. There’s a new challenge around every corner. There’s always somebody looking for a manager or a coach. St Mary’s in Clonmel rang me up, and off we went again. I didn’t really envisage going back to inter-county though. I didn’t think that was going to happen.

I have no ambition to manage Waterford again. People have mentioned it to me and people have suggested it to me, but I never gave it a second thought. I’ve had two or three approaches from other counties. My ambition from now on is a bit of coaching or motivational stuff. I had my go at it. I was an inter-county hurling manager for six years. People might say Westmeath was only Division 2, but it was just as important to me.

I’ve done my time at it. I’m happy with my lot as regards that. It’s a full-time job to be honest about it, especially when you put travel into it. Look, I’ve done my fair share of driving. I’ve driven for the last 40 years.

The greatest day of my sporting life

GREATEST DAY: Waterford manager Michael Ryan during the 1998 Ladies Football Championship semi-final match between Mayo and Waterford at Fraher Field. ’The ladies were carrying the can for Waterford,’ says Ryan. Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

No two counties have done as much for the promotion of ladies football than Waterford and Monaghan. They made the whole world aware of the great product ladies football was as regards quality, skill, fitness, intensity.

It was like two warring tribes. Neither team ever went beyond the bounds of a good, fair, hard tussle. There was no filth. I’m surprised RTÉ haven’t shown back those All-Irelands, they were two massive games of football. We were serious, serious rivals and there was no love lost.

When Monaghan came on the scene, the noise levels went up! They were the first county to bring massive support to Croke Park. Monaghan came out on the pitch with an energy. They burst onto the pitch.

It was the most satisfying win of all. 1995 was our best performance but we expected to win in ’95. We went into the game in 1998 and it was a real 50-50. We were beaten the two previous years by Monaghan and beaten in a league final. For all those reasons. So much at stake, first live television final, the whole country looking on, two great teams and to play really, really well.

It was the greatest day of my sporting life. In those days, the only lift for Waterford GAA was the Waterford ladies team. In 1993, we were beaten by Kerry in hurling. I was there. There were years when Waterford won no championship match in hurling or football. The ladies were carrying the can for Waterford. And proud to do so. To win that, with so much at stake and all that happened, was very, very, very satisfying!

The newer, bigger and better Brendan Martin Cup lay on the table. Slowly the dressing-room emptied, the players made their way to a function room behind the Hogan Stand. I was last to leave as usual.

I made my way down the steps from the dressing-room and up the steps to the pitch. Darkness was descending.

I walked across Croke Park with not a soul to be seen. A glance to my left revealed a giant crane in the North Dublin skyline on the Canal End with a light at the very top. A glance to the right revealed the scoreboard… Waterford 2-14 Monaghan 3-8.

Underneath the new clock stood at 00:00.

I couldn’t help the feeling… This is as good as it gets. We kept the blue jerseys after that. White, as I say, is a ghost’s colour, like! Blue made us look a bigger, stronger team. Bill Shankly would have used red. White is a pale colour. You look a bigger, stronger, more intimidating team in a full-blooded colour.

Cork always had that theory. We were lucky in it so for a number of years after that we wore blue. They’re gone back to white now.

After that All-Ireland, we were on a high. After winning such a great game against Monaghan, we had our celebrations and then there was a league game in December.

Laois came to town. We beat them 15-24 to 1-1 in Ballymac. 65 points! That must be record. I was with Laois two and half years later, when they won the All-Ireland… despite that 15-24! Imagine that! That’s how far Laois came.

We used to try and get a goal in the first minute if we could. The top teams always try and do that. When you’re playing against a team that are underdogs, goals kill them. It sows the seed of self-doubt.

We’d be trying to get the ball into Áine Wall. Early on, and stick one in the back of the net. I never saw a player to get goals like Áine Wall. When it came to finishing, she had the ability to break the back of the net like. She scored 7-6 that day.

When it was over, we weren’t overly happy. While the game was on, we played it all we could but we didn’t take any pride out of beating a team like that. We had young players coming on, they were fighting to get on that team. The regulars knew that there was someone champing at the bit to get on.

Nobody gave us mercy, and I wouldn’t want mercy. I remember the day in Thurles in the Munster final when Cork got 5-31 against Waterford. A number of people died at that game.

Cork had five goals and 30 points got and at the very end, Ray Cummins was clean through and with mercy, he hand passed the ball over the bar. I turned to the Cork fella beside me and said, ‘He’ll need that goal before the year is out’. He did.

Kilkenny won the final. Nobody wants pity.

1995 and 1998 were our two peak years. What killed us from there on in was all the football we played at club and county level. We couldn’t sustain it, like. We were going all year round. No break. It was bound to catch up on us and it did.