M. Donnelly All-Ireland Poc Fada final: Colin Ryan comes out on top again

​By Paul Keane

Just over two weeks after climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand with Limerick, Colin Ryan climbed Annaverna Mountain and got his hands on more national silverware.

The reigning M. Donnelly All-Ireland Poc Fada champion took the title for the second year running following a formidable display of striking around the challenging 5km circuit on the Cooley Peninsula.

Ryan achieved his two previous wins, in 2021 and 2025, over a shortened course due to bad weather but completed the full course this time in 51 pucks with 54 metres of extras.

That left Ryan one puck ahead of Mayo's Bobby Douglas while Clare's Eamon Foudy, who stepped in for club and county colleague Aidan McCarthy, came home third in the 12-man field.

It was an impressive display from Pallasgreen man Ryan who, joined by his partner, Grace, and two young children, Fionn and Robbie, led from pillar to post.

Ryan togged out on July 19 as reserve goalkeeper for All-Ireland final winners Limerick having been surprisingly recalled to John Kiely's panel last winter.

After the win over Galway, he turned his attention to intermediate club duty with Pallasgreen before sharpening his focus on retaining the All-Ireland Poc Fada title.

"I came up here for the first time in 2019 and at that stage it was just about gaining experience really," said Ryan, who won the title for the first time when he returned in 2021.

"I'm delighted moreso to be able to bring up family and friends and to have a day like we've had. It is nice to have three titles to my name but I don't really think about numbers, to be honest.

"Look, we'll come up again here next year and we'll give it another crack. That's the way I look at it because it's just a really enjoyable thing to do each year."

Collecting a third title has elevated Ryan ahead of hurling luminaries and two-time winners like Davy Fitzgerald (Clare), Pat Hartigan (Limerick), Albert Shanahan (Limerick), Cillian Kiely (Offaly) and Fionán Mackessy (Kerry).

"It's a great competition, the last couple of years have been so close, the same again today with myself and Bobby," said Ryan. "There was only a shot between us. There were some big hitters out there.

"I shot well from the very start. I thought I was in the lead from the first turn on the course. I knew that if I just kept tipping away with solid strikes that I had a good chance.

"Coming towards the end then, I knew that I had seven shots to get home and from just gauging it in my head, I kind of knew that I'd get home within that shot range."

Ryan said it was sheer relief after completing his final puck having set the pace all afternoon.

"You don't breathe out until you're over the finish line because if you mess up one strike, or miscue it, you're in trouble," he said. "Last year it came down to metres in the end, so you need to make the most out of every single strike."

Ryan said it was nice to do it over the full 5km course having come out on top in 2021 and 2025 across a shortened track.

"It was nice to do it over the full course and in good weather," he agreed.

Ryan, who played at midfield for a star-studded Limerick U-21 team when they won the All-Ireland in 2017, and who won his first senior medal in 2018, thanked friends and family for helping him get over the winning line in the north east.

"I have to give a mention to the boys, Conor McCarthy, Conor Roche, PJ Butler, Noah Deere," said Ryan. "My girlfriend, Grace, her mother, Kate Kelly, Ned Gammell, Dan the Man, Kate's young fellas, Eoin and Seán, I had a really good crew of lads helping me, and Jerry as well, Grace's father, so a great crew, which you need. Hopefully I'll be back up to defend the cup again next year."

Meanwhile, Westmeath's Conor Raleigh held onto the U-16 title, requiring just 22 pucks to complete the course and seeing off Antrim's Damien Laverty.