Final focus: Clare's Colin Ryan
September 06, 2013
Clare's Colin Ryan ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Ryan turned 25 last Monday, and has been leading the charge for the Banner County this Summer, with 51 points, one ahead of Kilkenny's Eoin Larkin, with Patrick Horgan the nearest remaining challenger on the overall top-scorers list, 18 points adrift, with a tally of 1-30 to date.
A solid run through the All-Ireland qualifiers, and a six-game run to the decider has helped Ryan along the way and the Newmarket-On-Fergus clubman says that while the front-door route and a Munster success would have been preferable, he's delighted to get the chance to contest an All-Ireland decider.
"It's exactly where we wanted to be. Maybe a different route than we thought we were going to take, but listen we are there now," he told hoganstand.com
"I'm sure we will enjoy the occasion, because if we don't enjoy the occasion we will regret it at the end of the day. The focus is now on getting a performance for 70 minutes against Cork, realising our potential and making sure that we don't lose focus with everything that is going on, and really get our heads down."
At 25 many would regard Ryan as a relatively young player, but with a host of Under 21 players on board this Clare Senior panel, who are looking forward to an All-Ireland final of their own on Saturday week against Antrim; he is one of the more established players on the squad.
Ryan can relate to those Under 21 players coming on board, having come into the Senior squad as a 19-year old in 2007, before going on to Under 21 All-Ireland success in 2009, Clare's first-ever title at that level.
"I think it is maybe a small bit easier for them in the sense that there is so many of them. When I came in, in 2007 I definitely would have been the youngest in the panel by a long shot, whereas these lads have friends everywhere in the panel. They have so many lads who are around the place, and it's great I suppose that they have so many that they can fall back on one another, and really help each other out. I'd like to think that maybe we are benefiting more from them, than they are from us."
Clare have brought youth to a new level this year, with 18 of the current Under 21 panel around the Senior squad. Ryan says youth means little, and once you have the talent it's what counts.
"It's an unusual situation that we find ourselves in, with the Under 21's. It's just the way the cookie crumbles. It's just the way the players fell and stuff like that. it doesn't make a difference how young you are or what you have. We are where we are. The panel is doing extremely well at the minute. We are all enjoying each other's company and we are all enjoying our hurling. Listen if you get a good mix like that anything can happen."
During his teenage years Ryan attended St. Flannan's College in Ennis, and was part of the All-Ireland title winning side of 2005, alongside players such as current Clare goalkeeper Patrick Kelly, John Conlon and Limerick's Seamus Hickey.
"Having come from Flannan's I would have won Dean Ryan, Harty and All-Ireland's, so I was very blessed to be involved with teams that were successful. That maybe didn't transform as quickly to Senior level as you would have liked, but I think to play Senior inter-county hurling you have to really reassess yourself and you have to really bring on your game. I'd like to think that I have done that over the last two years or so and I'm benefitting the team.
"Seamus Hickey and John Conlon would have been around St. Flannan's with me. Shane McGrath would have been a couple of years ahead of me - the Tipperary captain. All of these lads would have been around the place. There was an awful lot of Clare lads around, but there was a nice mix of inter-county lads."
Seamus featured for Limerick in the 2007 All-Ireland final against Kilkenny, but lost out to the Cats; but there was better luck for McGrath three years later.
"Seamus was very unlucky. He played in an All-Ireland final and they were unlucky. I suppose you could say they were unlucky this year and it was unfortunate that he got injured. Shane got success very late. Things went well for him with Tipperary. Listen some years you get it and others you don't. There's only one county that can win an All-Ireland."
Colin says that when he sees players like McGrath doing well it spurs him on when in action with his own county.
"It does of course. I suppose it's an awful thing to be, but you would be jealous of people that win All-Ireland's if you haven't. That's what drives you on at the end of the day. You want to be there, and you want to win it. We put ourselves in a position to do the job and let's hope we can get a performance."
At underage level, success also came in abundance with his club Newmarket-on-Fergus, while last year they claimed the Clare Senior Hurling Championship title for the first time since 1981, with victory over Cratloe in the decider.
"I would have been very fortunate to have a lot of underage success with the club and stuff like that. Maybe things came a small bit easy and maybe that didn't transfer to inter-county level, as easily as you would have thought it would. I would have won Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, Under 21 - everything that needed to be won at club level."
Admittedly Clare surprised themselves to get to Sunday's All-Ireland final, on a journey that began in the depths of Winter, and initially was focussed putting in a positive innings in the Allianz Hurling League, with maintaining Division 1A status key.
"At the start we would have really focussed on getting a good run in the league and making sure that we were a Division 1A team in 2014. We got that, we were happy with it. We were a bit unfortunate with some of the games in the league, we probably would have thought that we might have got a few results out of them."
Clare pulling through a relegation battle with Cork, after extra-time in order to hold their place in the top-flight for 2014.
"There was nothing in the league to be honest, between ourselves and Cork in the relegation match it was a puck of a ball that separated us. All throughout the league it was a puck of the ball that separated most teams. I suppose we found ourselves in the unfortunate position that we were in a relegation match, and one of us had to go down.
"All through the year I think the standard of hurling has been good. It's been very even and listen we both are where we are and we have a 50-50 chance of where we are at. I suppose the day of the relegation match we weren't really thinking of this, but it's nice to be looking forward to it."
Ryan believes that game can't be singled out as a turning point for making Clare or Cork's year.
"It's very hard to say whether it made Clare's year or it made Cork's year I suppose. A run in the qualifiers made our year, and a run in the qualifiers made Cork's year. It's very hard to single out something early in the year that really would have affected the rest of the year. Cork went down to Division 1B - they are in an All-Ireland final. We stayed up by the skin of our teeth and we are in an All-Ireland final. It's very hard to put that game down to anything that really worked out."
One mantra this Summer for Clare was about taking match on a game-by-game basis, and not looking too far ahead.
"We got over Waterford, and Cork gave us a lesson in the Munster semi-final. Things didn't go our way. We had to reassess then and make sure that the only path we could go to in an All-Ireland final was the qualifiers. We took every game as it came to us. We got over Laois, we got over Wexford. The Galway game was very important and we found ourselves in an All-Ireland semi-final against Limerick. We got a performance the last day and we'll be just looking to continue that.
"We are just concentrating on every 70 minutes as they come. We are not getting too caught ahead of ourselves or anything like that, because I think you will be very easily caught and made a fool of if you do start jumping the gun. We've only one game left now - it's 70 minutes and we'll be doing everything in our power to get as much out of ourselves in that 70 minutes and hopefully that will be enough."
The nineties were heady days for Clare hurling, with All-Ireland successes in 1995 and 1997 and a wave of emotion sweeping the county.
Ryan says it means a huge amount to the people of Clare to be this far on regardless of the result, and is delighted to be able to reward their support through thick and thin, by appearing in Sunday's decider.
"It's massive for them, and you'd hope that they would enjoy the occasion and enjoy the hype. I suppose they deserve it. It's very hard to follow a team for so long and not have success. I suppose they have been blessed with Under 21 success and Minor success over the last little while, so to have it carry on to Senior is important for them.
"To have them on your side, the last day especially you could hear them massively in Croke Park and hopefully they will bring out all the support on All-Ireland Final day and they will be on our side again."
Cork stand in Clare's way this weekend - one of the traditional top-three, who along with Kilkenny and Tipperary have amassed 90 All-Ireland titles between them.
But Ryan says it doesn't matter whether it's against a so-called 'traditional county' or not, both teams will be all guns in order to capture the Liam MacCarthy Cup this weekend.
"It doesn't make a difference how they are won. Cork have got to the All-Ireland final and they have done extremely well; we have got to an All-Ireland Final. I think it doesn't really make a difference who you are playing or what you are doing. For that 70 minutes both teams are going to want to win an All-Ireland and that's what we'll be trying to do." Tweet
