Last-day heroics by Ryan and Rochdale

RYAN DELANEY and his Rochdale team-mates were at the heart of some gripping last-day drama as the English League One came to a dramatic conclusion in front of the Sky Sports cameras on Saturday evening.

The New Ross native, a past pupil of the local C.B.S., was celebrating wildly at the final whistle as the Lancashire side got the result they needed to avoid the drop to the basement division.

Rochdale went into their home game with promotion-chasing Charlton knowing that they had to get a better result than fellow strugglers Oldham in order to escape relegation.

And it was real Roy of the Rovers stuff as they claimed a 1-0 win thanks to a calm strike from Joe Thompson who has battled back from cancer, not once but twice.

After Rochdale’s victory, they still had to wait anxiously on the pitch for a while before the Oldham game concluded. They were held to a 2-2 draw by Northampton, and that confirmed survival for an elated Ryan and his colleagues.

It has been a real roller-coaster ride for the talented left-sided centre-half who joined the club on a two-and-a-half year deal in January, having struggled to break into the first team at Burton Albion who were themselves relegated from the Championship on Sunday.

Ryan really blossomed on a loan spell with Cork City, and his progress is all the more remarkable because he jumped straight from their season which didn’t end until early November back into a busy schedule cross-channel.

Already a fans’ favourite at Spotland, Ryan’s portrait photograph adorned the front cover of Saturday’s match programme, and he contributed two goals to their league cause as well as lining out at Wembley in an FA Cup replay defeat to Spurs.

That isn’t bad going for a grounded young man who was part of the Wexford Youths Premier Division odyssey in 2016.