Sam Ryan: St Finbarr's footballers' trust in each other key to 2026 journey - thus far

St Finbarr's defender Sam Ryan. Pic: Jim Coughlan.

St Finbarr's didn't enjoy the greatest of starts to this year's Cork Premier SFC campaign.

Their solitary group win - against city rivals Douglas - proved enough for progress despite somewhat of a surprise defeat to Carrigaline and a definitive surprise defeat to Mallow. 

From there, they've built. Slowly but surely, yes, but they've built. 

Carbery were dispatched with ease and although Clonakilty pushed them mightily close at the last-four stage, they pulled through, with special thanks to 'keeper Darragh Newman.

There is a trust among this Barrs cohort, a trust built through years of playing together, time spent together off the pitch and being, in general, best friends. 

That friendship is something they rely on heavily down in Togher, insists defender Sam Ryan. Ups and downs. Hard winters of training. The happenings of their weeks. It all gets discussed, and usually in Ryan's business, Sam's Coffee, situated on the club grounds. 

"Yeah, it's massive. I suppose we're all best friends," explained Ryan. "I think we probably go on about that a lot.

"A lot of the lads work with me as well, and we do everything together. We're training three nights a week and going for coffee and breakfast every morning. 

"Over the years, you go through a lot of hardship. The team only gets stronger. I think other clubs will look upon us as well and see how close we are. There's a trust that you know what (your teammate) is going to do."

That aforementioned trust has got them this far. 

What awaits now is a familiar Nemo Rangers challenge, and a chance to go back-to-back in Cork football for the first time since 1980, and in their 150th year nonetheless.

For former Cork footballer Ryan, despite his side being a tad lucky to see so many Clon efforts go by the wayside, semi-finals are about one thing: winning. 

"We have great respect for Clon," Ryan said. "They've come up against them a lot now in championship, and I don't think there's ever been a game where either team has hammered the other.

"They've all been really close games. We fortunately got out on top Saturday night, but it definitely wasn't easy when you see they had a lot of wides.

"That's what you expect from semi-finals; they're never easy to win. They made it very hard work for us, and luckily we came out on top."

Clon hit 34 shots but could only muster a 38% conversion rate. 

While room for improvement exists among those situated in the Barrs' rearguard, Ryan insists they'll take pleasure from forcing their West Cork counterparts into tough efforts.

"From a defensive point of view, I'd always look at what we can do better," Ryan added. "I think we're definitely getting better game-on-game.

"They had a lot of shots, but a lot of those shots were put under pressure. But of course, we still have a lot of work to do. And I think there's another level yet for us to go on to.

"And again, that's what you want, and that's what we need against Nemo. They're a great team, and we'll definitely have to step it up even further to get over them."

So onto Nemo and that burgeoning inside forward threat of theirs. Ryan will surely be tasked with marking one of Ross Corkery, Bryan Hayes or Mark Cronin. 

"I've heard things already of the young lads coming through for Nemo," the corner-back said. "They're always going to produce some great footballers, especially forwards.

"We'll change things a small bit ourselves, but I'll defend the way I always defend. Same with (Colm) Scully and the rest of the back line. We won't change too much.

"We'll try to predict what they'll be doing, but again, it's very hard. It's just, you probably know from most of my games, I'll just jump on and everything. It's all aggression and stuff like that, and hopefully it goes our way."