Michael Ryan: ‘Where else would you rather be on a Sunday’

Michael Ryan waited 22 years for this, the chance to get his hands on Michael Ryan. It might all sound a little macabre, but it’s just the Ballymacarbry way.

On Sunday, Ballymac won the women’s Munster club senior football title for the first time since 2000 – beating The Banner 0-8 to 0-5 in the final at Mallow.

The post-match photo is a framer. Ryan, the former Waterford senior hurling manager, is flanked by his wife Catherine and their three daughters, Michelle, Louise and Sinead. He has just bounded down the steps having spent the previous hour or so struggling to control his emotions as WLR’s co-commentator for the match.

Not only were his three daughters playing, but up for grabs was the Michael Ryan Cup, the trophy donated by him to the LGFA’s Munster Council in the mid-nineties. As a former Ballymacarbry manager and provincial council administrator, a long-time irritant for Ryan had been the lack of lustre that was associated with the silverware presented to the winners of the women’s Munster title.

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“There was only a tiny little shield for the Munster club,” he recalls. “And I felt the competition deserved better, it deserved a proper cup. So, I bitterly put my hand in my pocket and bought one. That’s how it came about.”

It is not the first time Ballymacarbry have won the cup, indeed he even managed them to win it in the past, but it is the first time they have done so with Ryan’s three daughters playing.

“It was a very special moment to get the photo afterwards, it was great, really lovely. The players have worked so hard to get back, so it was brilliant,” he smiles.

Sport never stands still and next Sunday he will manage the Waterford men’s senior football champions, The Nire, in a Munster club quarter-final against Clare’s Éire Óg at Cusack Park in Ennis.

And he hopes for an afternoon with less stress than events in Mallow last Sunday. Ballymacarbry entered last week’s decider against The Banner having lost 11 Munster club senior women’s finals since 2001.

“I have often done co-commentary with WLR on plenty of games over the years with Kieran O’Connor, and I’ve always felt so relaxed doing it, rarely got too excited,” says Ryan.

“But the second half last Sunday, those last 15 minutes were the toughest 15 minutes of my life in any aspect of the GAA, whether it being a player, coach, manager or a commentator.

“We gave away the ball several times, I kept saying, Oh my God, because I feared we were going to lose it. It was so tough watching on. The final whistle couldn’t come soon enough, we had waited so long to get back to the top in Munster again and we felt every single one of those 22 years during the last 15 minutes.”

And while Ryan, who also managed the Westmeath hurlers in the past, wanted to immediately race down to embrace the players, he had to try retain his composure and finish out the commentary. “It wasn’t easy, but as soon as the final whistle went it was just sheer relief.”

Sinead was Ballymacarbry’s top scorer on Sunday with four points, while Michelle chipped in with one as well.

But this weekend there will be a swapping of roles in the Ryan family – Michael will be on the sideline managing The Nire while up in the press box at Cusack Park on co-comms for WLR will be Michelle.

“Yes, we’re trading places,” smiles Michael, who has now managed The Nire to back-to-back Waterford senior football titles. In last year’s Munster championship they lost to Newcastle West at the quarter-final stages. Éire Óg, also two-in-a-row county winners, beat Loughmore-Castleiney in a provincial quarter-final last year.

“Éire Óg are a very good team and they will have the advantage of playing at home as well, so we will have it all to do. But at the same time I’d like to think we have a real chance, we have to play better than we’ve played this year so far and our performance in the county final won’t do, but we think there is more in us so hopefully we can get a performance,” says Ryan.

There are 14 dual players on The Nire team with Fourmilewater being the club’s hurling side. Fourmilewater went all the way to the quarter-finals of the Waterford SHC this year, only to come up short against eventual winners, Ballygunner.

“I’m managing on my doorstep now,” says Ryan, who has experience of coaching in many parts of the country. “So there is no hardship in that. It is great to be involved. We train three times a week, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, unless we have a game that day.

“Where else would you rather be on a Sunday afternoon? It’s great to be looking forward to another big weekend now.”