Pat Ryan's U20 template is a perfect starting point for his senior role

PERFECT PREP: Cork manager Pat Ryan. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

A few years ago a potential issue arose as Glen Rovers prepared for a Cork county hurling final.

One of their players had started a new job and was settling in to the new routine. The possible issue? His work supervisor was managing Sars, the Glen’s opponents, and was in charge of the Glen player’s working hours.

In the uncharted territory of GAA etiquette it might be seen as underhanded if a player’s preparation for a county final was marred by some deft manipulation of his work timetable; on the other hand it might also seen as exploiting a small advantage.

In any case the issue never arose. 

Pat Ryan, the new Cork manager, was the supervisor in question and in the Glen player’s words was more than fair with a colleague trying to defeat his own club in the biggest game of the year.

Ryan’s appointment earlier this week was quick but not precipitate. He was the obvious candidate but obvious doesn’t always translate into inevitable with managerial appointments within the GAA: it was a neat piece of work by officials in the county to have someone in place in time for the county hurling championships in Cork.

In his comments to the Irish Examiner earlier this week Ryan stressed that he and his management team were open to a player putting his hand up for inclusion with Cork based on club combat: “ . . . you can’t beat the enthusiasm that a new player brings in either, and by a new player I mean someone who may not have been there before. And we will be looking for those fellas as well, of course.

“I’d be a big believer in ‘if you can’t do it for your club on the big day, then how will you do it for Cork on a Munster final or All-Ireland final day in Thurles or Croke Park?’” 

Ryan’s respect for the club game is understandable. He cut his teeth with Sarsfields, winning county senior hurling titles in 2012 and 2014, and has been deeply involved in all aspects of the club’s activities. When he was announced formally as Cork U20 manager the Sarsfields website published a message of congratulation which referred to Ryan being “chairman and driving force of the upgrading of the Sarsfields All Weather Complex.” 

His performance with the Cork U20s is the key point on his CV, but even then he was stressing the grade’s value to clubs in Cork on his appointment.

“Any player that would come into our group, we need to make them better hurlers for themselves and for their clubs,” he told Therese O’Callaghan at that time.

“We will get the knock on from that. They have to go back to their club a better player, a better athlete, better conditioned, better attitude and to be delivering for their club. That is one issue we will be trying to drive into them.” 

With Cork Ryan got the maximum from a talented group, winning back to back All-Ireland titles in 2020 and 2021. Several players from that team have already featured for the county senior side, like Daire O’Leary, Shane Barrett and Daire Connery, while two more - Alan Connolly and Ciaran Joyce - are further along in their development and are already established senior starters for Cork. 

Ryan’s teams played aggressive, attacking hurling and even making allowances for the obvious differences between U20 and senior inter county hurling, Cork supporters will be keen on seeing that U20 template applied to the senior side.

Ryan has an additional advantage in having served as a selector and coach under Kieran Kingston and will thus be familiar with the older cohort of players as well.

It was notable in his comments earlier in the week that age is not a consideration when evaluating players: the usual presumption when a new broom comes in that the older players are the ones swept out, but Ryan sounded a very different note.

“My job is to get the Cork senior hurling team playing to the best of their ability - immediately. And I need the best players available to do that.

“In that sense I’m not planning for 2025. God knows what will happen that season, or in 2024, my immediate focus will be 2023 . . . In that sense I won’t be looking at fellas’ ages, or how many times they’ve played for Cork already: I’ll be looking at what those players can do for Cork hurling right now.” 

The challenges for Ryan aren’t limited to the field of play, unfortunately. The outgoing management group were relatively circumspect about losing home advantage for the Munster SHC game against Clare due to the Ed Sheeran concert but there’s a reason that teams prefer a home venue for tight games, and Cork ended up losing that Clare clash by two points in Thurles.

(Side note: in the rush to lacerate Cork for not having a suitable venue on hand for that Clare clash, surprisingly little was made of the unbalancing of the Munster championship by giving Clare one away game less, but no matter.) 

The financial challenges which meant a concert displaced a match remain, challenges which aren’t faced by other counties. At the Limerick hurling press call last week, for instance, John Kiely was asked if his side had found hotel rooms for the All-Ireland final; news had broken that Kilkenny had decided not to stay overnight because of the shortage of hotel rooms.

Kiely played down the issue, referring to the (Limerick) board and support group around to the team which handles such matters, but it was an indication of how headaches unrelated to on-field issues can pop up for an intercounty manager. Limerick run their affairs smoothly, however, and Kiely is able to focus on the team without outside distractions, a model which is the envy of many counties.

Because Ryan figured on outgoing manager Kieran Kingston’s backroom teams he’s likely to quiz the Tracton club man on potential pitfalls and try to anticipate problems before they arise. 

Accessing Páirc Uí Chaoimh for big-match preparation was a challenge for the outgoing management group, one which Ryan will be keen to avoid. Before that arises there will be plenty of county championship games played in Cork. Expect to see one particularly interested spectator at a few of them.