‘No-brainer' – Wayne Sherlock reveals why ‘we always knew Pat Ryan would be Cork manager' ahead of All-Ireland final
With the Blackrock defender excelling in his debut season at senior inter-county level, Jimmy Barry-Murphy guided a young Rebels side to All-Ireland SHC glory.
4
Wayne Sherlock backed Pat Ryan to lead Cork to the All-Ireland
Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
4
They were both part of the Cork panel that won the All-Ireland in 2005
Credit: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
4
Cork have not won Liam MacCarthy since 2005
Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Given that the majority of the panel had been emboldened by winning underage titles, it stands to reason that
Sherlock
cites a game in Thurles two years earlier as the genesis of their success.
He recalled: 'I marked Liam Cahill actually in 1997 in the Under-21 Munster final, which was where it all started for that group of players really. So playing Tipp is always special.
'When I grew up, my parents didn't go to games so you'd listen to people on about
the games
yourself that you realise it's massive.
'Cork don't want to lose to Tipp and Tipp don't want to lose to Cork, so it adds to the buzz.'
Read More on GAA
Both management teams for today's Liam MacCarthy Cup final were well represented in that Under-21 provincial decider 28 years ago.
Current Tipperary manager Cahill was joined in the Premier attack by selector Mikey Bevans. Cahill hit 0-4, only for the hosts to suffer an agonising one-point defeat following a last-gasp Timmy McCarthy goal.
As well as selectors
Sherlock
and Brendan Coleman, the Cork team featured Pat Ryan at midfield. The friendships that were forged on the field have stood the test of time.
Later, Sherlock and Ryan were also
work
colleagues in
Most read in GAA Hurling
And when Ryan took charge of the Cork Under-20s for a two-year stint that yielded back-to-back All-Ireland titles, he arranged a meeting with one of his old team-mates at the Maryborough Hotel to request his assistance.
Sherlock recalled: 'Going down, I knew it would be tough because I'm on shift
work
and stuff. I'm either 100 per cent in or I'm not at all.
Watch RTE pundits' contrasting reaction to full-time whistle of Tipperary's epic win over Kilkenny
'In fairness, Pat was understanding and he said I wouldn't need to be there all the time, but I wanted to be. The minute he asked me, there was only going to be one answer.
'I probably have to know the fellas well enough to get involved with them. When he told me the people he brought in with him, there were no egos. No fellas just there to get their names in the paper and stuff.
'It was purely fellas who want Cork to do well. I hope that we come across that way. We just want these players to do well. At the end of the day, we're happy to stay in the background.
'And I think when Pat speaks, people listen because he doesn't speak bulls***. He just speaks from the heart and the players respect him hugely.'
When Kieran Kingston vacated the Cork senior management position after the 2022 season, there was an outstanding candidate to fill it. Following their success with the Under-20s, Ryan got the band back together.
Sherlock answered the call again. The 2004 All-Star explained: 'I suppose I knew Pat, I played with him, I worked with him. I just think it would be hard for me to go in with someone I don't know that well. They might have completely different ideas to you.
'I don't want to sound like there are only certain people I'd work with but I wasn't sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring either.
'And I wouldn't say he had eyes on the senior job but when Kieran Kingston stepped down, there was only one man for the job. And as a Cork supporter, when Kieran stepped down I wanted to go and watch a Cork team managed by Pat Ryan. So it was a no-brainer for me.'
'Cork don't want to lose to Tipp and Tipp don't want to lose to Cork, so it adds to the buzz.'
Wayne Sherlock
A third All-Ireland medal was claimed by Sherlock in 2005. Liam MacCarthy has remained absent from Leeside ever since yet, for the second year in a row, Ryan finds himself one win away from ending the famine.
Sherlock said: 'Even when Pat was playing, you always knew he was going to be a manager. I probably didn't see myself, to be honest, being in a selector or coaching role or whatever.
'But you always knew Pat was. He just thinks about the game so much. He thinks about the players so much.
'Every time he speaks, Pat makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Rob Downey said it after the Munster final that everyone loves Pat and we'd do anything for him. The resilience he has shown this year to come back and row in behind his team is something exceptional.'
'UNBELIEVABLY STRONG'
Throughout his three-year reign as Cork senior gaffer, Ryan has carried himself with dignity and respect.
That he has remained an exemplary figurehead this season has been particularly admirable.
Back in February, he
Sherlock said: 'I suppose Pat is the man that we know but his
family
have been unbelievably strong too. We were at his house that tough week and the first thing he said was, 'I'm going to be at the game on Saturday'.
'Look, we respected him, we didn't try and change his mind. He said he'd be there, that we had a job to do and that's the way it was.
'It's something that he hasn't brought into the group here at all. How he's done it is absolutely phenomenal. I actually don't know how he's done it but it just shows the man he is.
'When he's tuned in and has a job to do, and he has a very strong
family
behind him, I suppose what he's doing is making them proud and giving them good memories in a tough year.'
4
Cork manager Jimmy Barry Murphy celebrates following the Guinness All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final in 1999
Credit: David Maher/Sportsfile
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
19 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Inside Kerry's All-Ireland final prep: recovery vans, suit fittings, and hotel chess
Just as it was absent after their stunning All-Ireland quarter-final win over Armagh, the Kerry team bus wasn't near their dressing room following the semi-final victory against Tyrone. Instead, parked outside the door of it under the Hogan Stand beside trusty kit man Colm Whelan's van was a truck with C11 Recovery emblazoned along the side. Eagle-eyed viewers of The Open Championship in Portrush last week may also have noticed it in the players' area. On Instagram, would-be champion Scottie Scheffler and former Masters winner Jon Rahm were pictured outside it. For the past few seasons, Kerry have been using the Kildare-based mobile recovery unit, which features Avantopool ice baths and compression boots. Cork GAA, Munster Rugby, Basketball and Cricket Ireland are among its founder Ryan Casey's other clients. 'For the last number of years, any time we would have got to Croke Park, a recovery guy comes in,' Kerry selector of the previous three seasons Mike Quirke told the Irish Examiner football podcast last month. 'There would be ice baths in the shower area. As soon as that quarter-final is over, the boys goe straight in there for the next day. 'It's a great service and you know what it's a nice thing for players as well because you're saying, 'The recovery guy is booked because we're going to be here in two weeks' time.'' Psychologically, it is most certainly a boost and almost as self-fulfilling and prophetic was something that occurred across Jones Road last Saturday week. Outside of All-Ireland finals in GAA HQ, Kerry have their post-match meal in the Croke Park Hotel but there they were also fitted for their All-Ireland final suits. A couple of hours after qualifying for the final and they were already dealing with the frills and fuss that come with the day. This month three years ago, Jack O'Connor spoke of the distractions around All-Ireland final day. 'They have to understand that this is about performing on the big day and not getting carried away with any sideshows or tickets and looking after their partners the night before and all this. There are a lot of sideshows. 'Getting measured for suits, tickets and accommodation for their partners and all that, you have to absolutely park all of that stuff and concentrate on the performance because it will be well forgotten about if we can't get over the line now.' The logistics and other non-management backroom members pride themselves on their diligent levels of preparation. As they did for the last two games, Kerry will stay in Dunboyne the night before the game with Donegal also expected to spend Saturday in Meath in Enfield (Kerry's banquet is the Clayton Hotel Burlington on Leeson Street and Donegal's takes place in The Radisson Hotel in Golden Lane). Kerry's bookings had been arranged for months – Donegal stayed in the Burlington hotel when they won the 2012 final but Kerry were there when they beat them two years later. For last month's quarter-final, Kerry had heard Armagh attempted to book into the regular Dunboyne base. The result mightn't have gone the team's way but for the final group game against Meath in Tullamore last month, they had organised their accommodation in Mullingar weeks before Glenisk O'Connor Park was confirmed as the venue. In 2022, Kerry made an advance payment on their hotel for an All-Ireland quarter-final assuming they would beat Limerick in the Munster final. The pre-paid booking saved them around €7,000. Last year, accommodation costs for Kerry totalled €165,436 compared to €177,302 in 2023. When Kerry beat Dublin in the following semi-final that year, they hadn't a hotel booked for the night after the final. The team they had vanquished no longer needed their sleeping partners The Gibson Hotel and took their place. There may have been some confusion about April's training camp in Portugal. Last November, treasurer Paudie Healy told local media it would not be taking place only for that decision to be reversed. 'Sure we're going anyway,' smiled O'Connor about the board agreeing to the trip after Kerry claimed the Division 1 title. Like other counties realised, going abroad worked out cheaper than a camp at home but for Kerry who had played seven games in eight weeks it was also a chance to work on two-pointers. 'It's a skill getting the right kickers on it and creating the space, so we had a bit more time starting with the training camp to work on stuff like that,' he recalled earlier this month. 'That was the real practical reason.' A total of 25 in their eight SFC games compared to 11 in the same amount of league fixtures would suggest the work done on two-pointers on the break was money well spent.
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
'Live your life': Jack O'Connor has learned how to survive All-Ireland final week
Jack O'Connor doesn't specify which of the previous seven All-Ireland finals he is referencing. Doesn't tell us whether it is one of the four successful or three unsuccessful. His tone, though, would suggest the fixture belongs to the latter group. The Kerry manager was in holistic humour at the county's All-Ireland final press afternoon in the Gleneagle on Saturday. An all-encompassing view was adopted and articulated for the duration of the 29-minute chat. Football rarely stood in isolation. He recalled one final, presumably from either his first or second coming, where he'd the match played in his head '1,000 times beforehand'. Come throw-in, he was mentally spent and the ability to think on his feet considerably reduced. It is a 'mistake' he has not repeated. It's a mistake he is forever endeavouring to ensure his players do not make. Football has no superior in the Kingdom. That's a blessing on a week such as this. But when results are not swinging for you, and we don't need to go too far back Championship Road for the most recent example of that, the place and its people can be suffocating. Escaping such is a challenge similar to countering Donegal's relentless running game. Jack speaks about David Clifford having to develop 'mechanisms' to keep the heat off him at times, even in his private life. How his players live away from the dressing room dictates the heights they are capable of reaching when they take the green and gold shirt of its hanger and head through the tunnel. The inference here is not to nutrition, recovery, sleep patterns, or any of that. The inference is to mental freshness. Jack constantly reminds his troops they are part of something that brings a lot of joy to a lot of people. That joy, though, should not be exclusive to those outside the dressing-room. It shouldn't be enjoyable for the followers and endurance for those on the field. The manager's message is thus: Obsess about football when you're in Fitzgerald Stadium on whatever midweek evening the schedule demands. But once you walk out onto Lewis Road after the post-training grub has been consumed, throw football into the boot along with the gearbag and leave it there. Well, maybe wash the gear. But don't go near football. 'Cognitive overload, or whatever the hell they call it' is to be avoided. 'You have to try and enjoy the season as a whole because otherwise it becomes a bit of a chore. I think even some of the players would say that there were other years where they clinched their fist, gritted their teeth, and wished their life away almost, and [wanted to] fast forward to the match. That doesn't really work. You have to take it in your stride and enjoy it as you go along,' says Jack. 'I've probably learned to do that better over the years. I've made plenty of mistakes. You give little bits of nuggets here and there and say, look lads, we'll switch on for the next two hours at the session, but when you are away from it, outside of a casual chat over a cup of coffee, try and switch off, do other things, live your life. 'Because at the end of the day, we are amateurs, we are not professionals. We need that bit of space to get that bit of energy back again. With social media, sure you can spend the whole day looking at stuff if you wanted. Away from training, you can't stay tuned in for every waking hour because otherwise you'll be drained over the course of the season.' That energy conservation is critical in this final week. 'There is no point in being all wired to the moon and having your energy spent by the weekend. All-Ireland final week can be draining enough with all the nervous tension involved in it, so it is really important that you manage your energy. It is not all stress, there is an enjoyable part, as well, where you feel a buzz around the county and you feed off that.' A different sort of freshness. Sideline freshness. Jack's theory is that the lifespan of a management team is three years. So, at that point, either shake it up or get out of town yourself, which he's done in the past. Mike Quirke, Diarmuid Murphy, and Paddy Tally departed in the off-season. In came former minor manager James Costello, Pa McCarthy, who served under Costello in that minor gig, and former Kerry forward Aodán MacGearailt. And for the role of coach, it was a case of back to the future in recruiting Cian O'Neill. The manager explains the credentials sought in that recruitment process. 'It's very important that you pick people who are good at the role, have potential to improve in the role, and be possible head coaches or managers down the line. I've always kept an eye on stuff like that. 'I brought in Éamonn Fitzmaurice and Diarmuid Murphy in 2009. Both of them proved after that they relished being in there. Éamonn went on to win a great All-Ireland in 2014, so it is important to give a bit of consideration to people with potential, people with a good knowledge of the game, and people who have the ability to improve.' And, finally, to Sunday. The athletes versus the footballers. Is that a slight on Donegal, are Kerry nothing more than stylists? Jack doesn't see either side digressing from their football principles. 'Donegal have a powerful running game, it comes very natural to them because they play a lot of their club football like that. It is often said it has to do with the conditions up there, it is fairly windy, and not conducive to kicking the ball much. 'It probably will be a clash of styles, but at the end of the day, it comes down to good decision-making and players that are comfortable on the ball. 'There are lots of ways to skin a cat, so we'll of course be endeavouring to move the ball as fast as we can, but that is not always possible.'
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Tommy Martin: Jim McGuinness is a superhero, but are Kerry his Kryptonite?
The last time they met in an All-Ireland final, I remember the exact moment I knew Donegal would lose to Kerry. It wasn't when Paul Geaney scored Kerry's first goal within 60 seconds of the throw-in, or in the 52nd minute when Donegal keeper Papa Durcan kicked the ball straight to Kieran Donaghy for Kerry's second goal or deep into injury time when Colm McFadden slapped the ball onto the base of the Kerry post for what would have been the equalising goal. This is exclusive subscriber content. Already a subscriber? Sign in Take us with you this summer. Annual €130€65 Best value Monthly €12€6 / month
