Recharged Ryan revels in new role
JAMES RYAN will lead Limerick into battle at Semple Stadium tomorrow afternoon. Given the leadership that the combative Garryspillane man has displayed for the Shannonsiders, particularly on recent dark days in the past few seasons, he seems a natural fit for captaincy.
However, Ryan reveals that when he was approached by John Kiely to skipper Limerick in 2017, it was the first time he had ever been asked to be captain.
The 30-year-old, who works as a games development officer for Limerick County Board, had taken some time away from the county scene during the winter to reflect on his career. He did have a serious think about whether he wanted to step back on the treadmill. And then the new manager suggested captaincy.
‘It was a surprise, absolutely,’ Ryan recalls. ‘When I came back in, I didn’t even realise that no captain had been named. I suppose I have built up a good relationship with some of the Under 21s that have come onto the panel, just chatting to them.
‘But it’s gas. When you come back from a break like I had over the winter, no matter how many years that you have been playing with a team, you feel like a bit of an outcast. And I just kept my head down for a couple of weeks, got involved in the routine of it again. Then I was approached to be captain. I was never a captain before and it was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down, really. It’s a great honour for me, my family and my club.’
Ryan, who was inspirational when Limerick won the 2013 Munster final in the Gaelic Grounds, says that his few months away from the county scene was vital. Not just to recharge the batteries, but to discover if the hunger was still there.
‘I was definitely mulling it over,’ Ryan explains of his brief time away from the Shannonside dressing room. ‘Since 2011 on with Limerick, the training has been so intense and there has been so many nights consistently every week, that it is very tough going.
‘I didn’t know if it was a break I needed just to refresh or whether I just had enough. And then, I wondered if I was good enough to come back. So I just took a break to recover and refresh. At this level, you don’t exactly take a break from training. I was doing a bit myself but I just took a break away from the collective training.’
Ryan removed himself from the Limerick squad for 10 weeks and suggests that he might not even be part of the set-up this year, had he not taken a break.
‘The break did me the world of good. There were a few years there where I had just finished with the club in either hurling or football and two weeks later, I was back with the county. I was burnt out from the whole thing, mentally rather than physically. ‘But it was the best thing I ever did. If I didn’t do it, I would be in a much different mindset now and I don’t think I would still be involved. If you just keep going and going on the treadmill, you will eventually fall off.’
Although the rivalry between Limerick and Clare is at its most intense in the Treaty City, Ryan grew up on the Tipperary border — his mother is from the Premier County — so he doesn’t harbour the same feeling that his younger team-mates have towards the Banner.
‘The Limerick-Clare rivalry is based in the city, with Ardscoil Rís. At a rough guess, I would say 60 per cent of our team went there and a lot of Clare lads, too. So they have that extra bit of knowledge of each other, and that extra bit of rivalry will bring its own dynamic to the game.’
And the prize to win this local derby is huge. Not just a Munster final place, but also a guaranteed All-Ireland quarter-final. ‘It’s nice to know if you win a match, you are in a Munster final and whatever happens, you will be in an All-Ireland quarter-final.
‘Traditionally, Limerick’s best route is the Munster final road. When we get a win, we get a bit of momentum behind us and we seem to improve our play. That’s the way we are hoping to go.’