Ryan continues to use Kilkenny as a barometer
IT’S fair to say Kilkenny, and Brian Cody, have shaped Michael Ryan’s inter-county management career. This spring, it will be 10 years since he whooped and hollered his way up the sideline at Semple Stadium upon hearing the final whistle of a thrilling National League final, front seat for the action as selector alongside Justin McCarthy on a historic day. A first national senior trophy since 1963 and a first victory over Kilkenny in a national decider since the milestone All-Ireland final replay triumph of 1959.
Even that day, he had a feeling the empire would strike back. ‘It’s one I remember distinctly. I also remember being in the Kilkenny dressing room after the match saying a few words to the players and thinking, “these fellas will be back very quickly”. Their attitude is always the barometer. And that’s a tribute to Brian Cody.
‘Kilkenny lost two All-Irelands when he came in. He lost one himself. After that [1999], he sat down and put a system in place that has stood the test of time. As far as I’m concerned, the debate over the greatest GAA manager of all time is long over.’
Eleven All-Irelands later, who would argue with him. This afternoon, Ryan’s Westmeath team welcome Kilkenny to Cusack Park in Mullingar in the Walsh Cup. If there is one good reason why the former Waterford manager’s career path has taken him to making the 250mile round-trip commute from Ballymacarbry to Mullingar, at least three times a week, it’s the events of Thurles again, Kilkenny the opposition once more in a do-or-die All-Ireland qualifier in 2013.
Another minor classic which Kilkenny thieved in extra time, as only they know how. Rather than being hailed for his guiding hand, he was thanked for his time and prompted to move on.
He admits Waterford’s season, and his own path, could have gone a very different way if the result had swung the other way. ‘Absolutely. When you eventually sit down by the fireside with your boots, you reflect on things that could have happened in life. I use the word “fate”. We had a chance to win that game at the end. Didn’t do it. And we’ll always wonder what might have happened.’
So here he is with Westmeath, not just tilting at windmills. If there was one hurling result that caught the imagination in 2016, it was Westmeath knocking Kilkenny’s Under 21s out of the Leinster championship. Ryan’s fingerprints were all over it with the crossover between senior and U21 management.
‘It was an important one for the development of Westmeath hurling. Beating a team like Kilkenny is hugely significant provided we drive on from it. Keep working. It can’t be seen as the be-all and endall.
‘What we can’t do is get carried away. We have to find a way of getting the right balance between taking confidence from it and not being arrogant about it. Having said that, we played Antrim a couple of weeks ago and were beaten by nine points. What Kilkenny did to Antrim last Sunday, we clearly have an almighty job on our hands.’
The above is a reference to the 6-27 to 0-19 rout at Abbotstown last Sunday, the margin of difference taking Ryan (below) aback.
‘I didn’t expect the margin to be so big. We played Maynooth [University] in a challenge match last Wednesday, also in Abbotstown, and the first guy out on the field was [Kilkenny All-Star] Pádraig Walsh – these guys don’t know any other way to play. That’s the biggest tribute I can pay to them. Every time they go out they have the right attitude, they work hard, they never take anything for granted. Role models in every sense.’
He tries to paint a picture of how the struggles are very different going from Waterford to even an upwardly mobile county like Westmeath.
‘First of all Westmeath have only 14 clubs playing hurling so that’s only a very small number. We have to strive to improve, to create an atmosphere where young fellas will want to play for Westmeath, that they’ll work hard at underage, that the development squad system will improve and gradually you’ll float the ship. But it’s a long, slow, tedious process.
‘It’s very difficult when you’re at the other end of the ladder. The big issue for the so-called weaker counties is that you get a sustained effort for two years, but it’s very hard to keep it up continuously. If you’re Cork or Kilkenny, there’s a fair chance you’ll be playing in Croke Park before the end of the year. Sometimes it might be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
‘It’s up to us to get the best out of every person in our set-up.’
History has told him that Kilkenny will have a point to prove after the humbling at U21 level last summer. ‘In the past, on the very rare occasions that Kilkenny have lost in the senior Championship – and they’ve been very rare now in the last 13 or 14 years – the following year they seem to take the initiative from the very start, go for the jugular from the month of January. And begin intensive preparation a little earlier than normal.
‘So we’re expecting a Kilkenny team with a few new faces, with fellas fighting to get on the team, and that’s a tribute to Brian Cody and the system he has put in place. ‘Look at one corner and you see Richie Hogan; look at the other and there’s TJ Reid. But we can’t roll over and die. We have to come out and fight. I’ll be telling players not to look at the scoreboard. Concentrate on the performance. Go out there and be as good as you can be.’ Sharing a sideline with Cody. Same as it ever was.