Ryan hails hunger of Ballygunner hurlers

By John Harrington

Jason Ryan had just won an All-Ireland Club SHC title with Ballygunner in his first year as manager, but after the game his instinct was to share the credit with those who have gone before him.

“Yeah, the work that's been done by the previous management teams whether it's Fergal Hartley or Denis Walsh and then the long stint by Darragh Sullivan and David Franks - they did really superb work,” said Ryan.

“So a lot of the foundations are there, so our job was just tweak things a little bit - or you know continue this a little bit and what not.

“But the players are an incredibly driven, hungry group of players and they take an awful lot of decisions upon themselves, and we would encourage them to be making decisions on the field to deal with different things that are thrown at them.

“And the further you go on in competitions, like the bigger the crowd there today, I don't know if they heard any instructions from the sideline, so having players with the ability to make those decisions is invaluable.”

Ballygunner dominated the second-half to win comfortably in the end, but Loughrea gave as good as they got in the first half.

At half-time was Ryan concerned his players were struggling to figure out their opponents?

“We were winning the game; we were a point up. Disappointed maybe conceding the goal.

“Concern is the wrong word; it was 30 minutes to go so it was more a case of we're going to have to up the ante to ensure that it's not just a one point game which isn't comfortable for anybody.

“But as a management team we’d have huge belief in the players and we believed that we were going to win the game, and we believed at half time we were going to win the game. And it's belief in the players, but I'd imagine that the guys out in the field there now for the football match, their management team believe the same piece.”

Ballygunner won by a fairly comfortable margin in the end, but the fact that goalkeeper Stephen O’Keeffe was named the official man of the match tells its own story.

He made three key saves and his accurate distribution gave them a great platform in the second-half in particular.

“So much experience,” said Ryan of O’Keeffe. “And his experience playing with the club. With Harty Cup, Waterford underage teams… He played so many years under really good managers with Waterford and there’s been so many key games.

“How do you get better at making big decisions in big games? By playing big games and making big decisions. And being able to take those risks. The more you do, the less of a risk it is because your standards are very high.

“His striking ability, his saves today were key. At really important times of the game for us. While it gives us a boost when he does it, it also hits the opposition, who think ‘Ah, we had a chance there!’

“But we would like to think the same thing, we had goal chances we didn’t take as well. But his influence is massive.

“There’s a lot of trust. The players trust him. The amount of games he has played with our midfield, our half-forward line. There’s relationships where there are guys running and all it takes is a look.

“That’s why integrating the Conor Tobins and Mark Hartley and Eoin Cuddihy and Alan O’Neills into the team is important, so that they can develop relationships with Stephen.”

This Ballygunner team has now won 12 consecutive Waterford championships, five Munsters in seven years, and two All-Ireland titles.

A new generation of talented young players have started to break onto the team in the last couple of years and Ryan sees no reason why they shouldn’t have the ambition to earn more garlands in the coming seasons.

“It’s all about today, but then it soon turns to ‘what do you think about tomorrow?’”, he says.

“The players are very hungry, they want competition and we wouldn’t be here today without Eoin Cuddihy’s performances in the Waterford championships or Eoin O’Brien’s in the Munster championship. They are just two of the guys who didn’t get gametime today.

“There are a tremendous group of players there. Good minors coming through, Jack Power, Cormac Spain are really talented kids, but the environment they are coming into is very supportive. And demanding as well, the standards are very high.

“For an outsiders like me coming into the group, to come in a see the standards the players set…

“You often hear about managers coming in, but in Ballygunner, the senior players create the environment and set the standards. It’s an ideal situation.

“When you hear the high performance teams, be it the All Blacks in their pomp, it’s the players that create the environment and the Ballygunner players deserve the credit for doing that.”