His time as a Tipperary hurler gave him legendary status but Declan Ryan has put all that on the line by taking on the senior manager's job. He spoke to Hogan Stand. 

It would be folly to suggest that Declan Ryan, the new Tipperary manager, finds himself in an unenviable position. He has an exceptional group of players at his disposal, one which smothered Kilkenny's bid to become the first side in the history of the GAA to win five successive All-Ireland senior titles. Nor is it all about the panel. Another wave of potential superstars are waiting in line, ready to challenge for a place in the panel after the county's U21s also blazed a trail in 2010.

So it's not exactly a poisoned chalice. Or is it? Taking over a team which has just dethroned arguably the best side in the history of the game is sure to present a rigorous set of challenges. Ryan is a star of the county's illustrious past and already an All-Ireland winning minor manager, but few would dispute the assertion that his greatest test lies ahead.

Whatever he does over the next year, or two or three, he will find himself measured against Liam Sheedy. The former manager took Tipp to the top of the mountain. The most thrilling of All-Ireland finals last September saw his players lower the colours of a Kilkenny side which many believed to be virtually invincible. Anything less than another All-Ireland in 2011 would probably represent a retrograde step, so expectations are sky high. No pressure, then.

If he's in any way daunted by the task at hand, he's not showing it. "Certainly it's a huge challenge to take on a team that has won an All-Ireland final," he says, "but when Liam, Eamon [O'Shea] and Mick [Ryan] decided to retire, and Nicky English wasn't available because of his work commitments, someone had to take up the mantle. I was lucky that the company I work for, Norbrook Laboratories, gave me full support to take on the position. We're living in difficult times and if you don't get the full backing of your employers then it's impossible to consider these positions.

"But I'm looking at it as a huge honour.  We've a very good backroom team in Tommy Dunne, Michael Gleeson and Cian O'Neill, and we've a very good group of players in Tipperary. Everyone in Tipp realises that only for a bit of luck at certain times over the past year we wouldn't have done as well as we did, so we're just going to prepare the team as best we can, and hope for that bit of luck on the big occasion."

Ryan was part of the Tipp hurling furniture for 13 years as a player, going from skinny kid to wily old warrior before our eyes and achieving the rare feat of winning All-Ireland titles in three different decades: 1989, '91 and 2001. His first spell in county management, with the Tipp minors, also brought All-Ireland success in 2007, so he has all the attributes necessary to lead the Premier County on for the next couple of years. Has it always been an ambition of his to take on the top job?

"I'd always look on it as a huge honour to be involved at any level in Tipperary hurling," he says, "but I'm not sure ambition is the right word. Put it this way - it would be an ambition of mine that Tipperary would do well, no matter who's involved in the management team. That's the bottom line."

If the task of coming in at a time when Tipp have regained their place at the top of hurling's ladder is a difficult one, one thing in Ryan's favour is that this particular Tipperary team is not one which has finally got over the threshold after years of knocking on the door. Sure, they came mighty close in 2009, when only a disputed penalty and a subsequent fatal lapse in concentration denied them outright success, but this Tipp team is still exceptionally young. Five of the starters last September also played in the U21 team which lifted the All-Ireland title in Thurles six days later, and Ryan believes there are several more hurlers around the county who could step up to the plate.

"We're very lucky that we have young guys coming through who are real winners," he says. "They're born winners, they know how to come through difficult situations. There are a lot of good guys in the U21 squad that weren't on the senior panel and we'll have a look at a few of those in the New Year, cast the net a bit wider for the early part of the season anyway.

"Every position is up for grabs. Obviously the core of the team will probably be the same but after that you have to go on form and how people prepare. We'll aim to settle on our panel in the latter half of the league and every player on that will be important. It's a 20-man game these days, so you have five subs who will come in and make a contribution in every game because the pace of the game nowadays is such. Seventy minutes is a long time to be flat to the boards."

Sometimes the stars just align, and a group of players come along who take everything to new heights. What's happening in Tipperary, though, seems to be more than that. This is not just a panel of players, but a wave, a revolution even. Can Ryan put a finger on the reason behind it? "I would say that all the underage coaching in Tipperary over the last 10 years is coming to fruition now. There are some fantastic younger players coming through, from U16 up. The lads that have come through minor and U21 over the last couple of years are there now and they're pushing on the guys that are in possession of the Tipp jersey. It's all good for hurling here."

No matter what happens during Ryan's tenure, there would appear to be one certainty: Kilkenny will form a formidable barrier. For Coe and Ovett, Ali and Liston, read Tipperary and Kilkenny. The counties are now in the midst of a rivalry that looks sure to be reflected upon for generations to come, the identity of the last man standing yet to be determined. The Cats carried all before them for years but 2009 hinted that Tipp were a rising force, and they built on that promise in September gone.

As much as a Tipperary man can possibly be, Ryan is a fan of the Kilkenny model. "They have been the benchmark for every hurling county in the country over the last 10 years," he says. "Brian Cody's record is absolutely second to none, and every man who loves the game of hurling would have to be hugely impressed by what Kilkenny have done. Phenomenal.

"With five minutes to go in the All-Ireland final there was just a puck of a ball in it, so there's no reason for anyone to get carried away and say that Kilkenny are not going to be a force. They'll still be the number one contender for the next five years, and it's up to us to match them."

Before the twin towers of hurling can hope to meet again, there is the small matter of the Munster championship, which according to Ryan has become a separate entity to the All-Ireland since the introduction of the qualifier system. In 2011, for the fourth year in a row, Tipp will face their oldest rivals Cork in Munster's first round, and for Ryan, the memories of the sides' most recent meeting are fresh.

"It's not that long ago since Cork beat us by 10 points. The 30th of May. That's a vivid memory for everyone in Tipperary. Tipp-Cork games can take on a life of their own. You can never predict the outcome. Everyone was talking about how good the Tipp U21s were this year but only for a lucky goal in Munster Cork would have beaten Tipp, so they obviously have some very, very good young players coming through. We'll be setting out to do as well as we can in Munster in 2011 but that's a long way off. There's a lot of work to be done between now and the 29th of May."

Often, once a team achieves its goals, motivation can be harder to find. Ryan admits that one element of his job will be to keep feet on the ground, but he doesn't believe it will be a problem.

"We have plenty of reasons for motivation," he declares. "Tipp won an All-Ireland in '01 and didn't win another one until 2010. Tipperary management, Tipperary hurlers, Tipperary supporters don't want to see another nine years go by before they win an All-Ireland again. As a management team we're new to some of the players but we expect them all to knuckle down to their training and be mad for road in January. There's no room for complacency, and again Kilkenny have set the bar in that regard.

"Tipp had decent teams in the '80s and '90s that I was a part of and we never managed to put All-Irelands back to back, so that's something that I'll be mentioning to the guys, something that we'll be aiming to achieve. Something like that doesn't just happen, you need a lot of hard work to get there, but that's what we're going to aim for."

Aiming for the top. In Tipperary, they wouldn't have it any other way.

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Declan Ryan is Technical Sales Representative with Norbrook Laboratories, covering the Munster and Leinster areas. Based in Newry, Co Down, where it employs approximately 1200 staff, Norbrook Laboratories manufactures animal health products for export to more than 100 countries worldwide. Tweet

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