Latest news with #PATRYAN
The 42
19-07-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Pat Ryan: 'When you take on the job, you have to win All-Irelands. You don't shy away from that'
WHEN PAT RYAN first filled the Cork managerial hotseat at U20 level, he sought to end conversations swirling around the county's hurling teams about lack of success. Silverware droughts were issues he sought to tackle. Their victory, in the delayed 2020 final, over Dublin in the summer of 2021 ended a 21-year wait for that crown and he backed it up with a second successive title a few weeks later. They ended their 27-year absence from the league winners' enclosure at senior level in April this season and won a first Munster title since 2018 when they prevailed in June after an extra-time showdown with Limerick. And yet nothing has consumed more attention than the two-decade barren spell since the county last lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup. Tomorrow against Tipperary is another opportunity and Ryan doesn't shirk away from the high stakes, having set out his ambition early into his senior tenure. 'I won't back away from stuff I've said before. You'll be judged by other people but my judgement as a Cork person, as a person who's played, as a person who's watched games and been involved in going to matches when we won All-Irelands in the '90s and the '80s, that's what's expected. 'That's the expectation when you take on the job, that you're going to win All-Irelands. If you don't, I suppose failure, is it the right word? It's probably a harsh word at times. But it's true, to be honest. You have to win All-Irelands. It's as simple as that. You don't shy away from that.' Advertisement Ryan took the reins on a three-year term in July 2022. That period is set to close after this year's championship but he has always been conscious of the need for him to demonstrate progress. 'I'm an amateur person doing an amateur job. I don't have any contract. I can walk away at any stage and the county board can move me on at any stage. It's what my family want to do, my energy, whether the lads want to stay on. I've been very consistent and I've said to the lads before, 'If you're not making things better, get out of the way' because there are loads of brilliant people in Cork who want to be where I am in my position and deal with the brilliant players that I have. If you're not making it better, if you're not improving it, you just can't hog the job for want of a better word.' In the quest for improvement, he scrutinised everything in the wake of last year's All-Ireland final loss. They may have only been pipped by a point against Clare and extra-time was necessitated, bu Ryan was insistent that a stronger approach was needed in 2025. 'You look at yourself first and see what you're doing and I think me being more focused on the playing side of it, all the stuff that was happening on the pitch, really focusing on that. Sometimes you can get carried away with the logistics side of it and I have a brilliant fella who looks after all our logistics, Dave Nolan, but you get carried away with making sure that the food is right, the gear is right, and travel is right, and how our pitches are right and all that side of it. 'I met the players one to one and I got plenty of feedback off the players. Sometimes you try to be as honest as you can with players and then sometimes you're probably trying not to hurt feelings. I think a lot of the players who would have came to me and said maybe you just need to be a bit more honest sometimes with us and just tell us what we need to do exactly. It was being a bit more direct and I think that is something that I've done this year. It's something I probably need to get better at all the time. It's something that's a work in progress.' A more player-driven ethos was adopted in the Cork camp with the emphasis on their leadership group. 'The lads that have come into it have been brilliant. We're much more player-led in what we're doing, from 2023 to 2024 it was better, to 2025 it's even better. How we play, how we analyse matches, how we come back at it. We've a fantastic analysis and video group led by Tomás Manning. We've dialled it down a bit as well. The 20-minute video sessions are gone. It's 5, 6, 7 minutes regularly, just to get fellas tuned in and that seems to be working as well.' He doesn't ignore the past either, tapping into the tradition that Cork hurling teams have built up over the decades. 'The Cork jersey has to mean something to everyone, every time you put it on, and that goes back to the public following us. When the public see that you're representing the jersey, they'll still back you. But if you're insipid in how you wear the jersey or you're not really playing with physicality or aggression. 'The players I grew up idolising in the 80s, there was no soccer, there was no rugby. The Teddy McCarthys, the Tomás Muls, the Jim Cashmans, the Jimmy Barry Murphys, the Seánie O'Learys, they were gods. It's like the Kerry team and the Dublin team of the 70s, that's who the people were, that's who the heroes were around the place. And there's an expectation that we wear the jersey as well as they did and do we lean into it? Yeah, you bet your life we do. 'Look, it's a good thing to come from. I just listened to it there recently about James McCarthy, and he did something with Bernard Dunne. He just said that when he was with Dublin, there's a way that Dublin should play and there's a way that Dublin should carry themselves and I just said Jesus that makes total sense. When you watch James McCarthy play, that's the way he lived it as a footballer.' The Tipperary rivalry is something he has been immersed in during his roles with Cork and their current revival has not surprised him. 'Myself and Liam and Mikey Bevans and Brendan and Wayne would've played in an under-20 Munster final against each other back in 1997. Cork and Tipperary, even when you were a young fella going to matches, going to Thurles. It's a fantastic rivalry. It's as old a rivalry that's in the game really. From our side of it, we love beating Tipperary, they love beating us. They're normally great games. 'They've brilliant players. They've done an awful lot of work at Tipperary level. They've won three Harty titles in the last three years with three different schools. Liam's got unbelievable expertise, he's got a great CV behind him. 'Tipperary people, they've really got around this team, they've got around Liam, they've backed him since the start of the league, and they've taken off. We're under no illusions. We'll be probably favourites going into it, but we were favourites too last year and that didn't work out. We just need to concentrate on ourselves.' A central protagonist in the 2025 showpiece, but what is Ryan's first All-Ireland final memory? 'The first All-Ireland final I went to was in 1986. I was ten years of age. I went up to it with Tadhgie Murphy, the golden boot who got the goal in 1983, and my father. We travelled up and stayed in Jury's Inn. Teddy, Lord rest him, came back from the Canaries after the semi-final to play in the final. Teddy was a huge figure around our club at the time and very friendly with my dad. So that was a huge thing.' *****
The Irish Sun
19-07-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
‘I won't back away' insists Pat Ryan as Cork boss repeats three-year ‘failure' claim ahead of All-Ireland hurling final
PAT RYAN has doubled down on the view that he will have failed as Cork manager if his side do not win tomorrow's All-Ireland SHC final. Anything less than Liam MacCarthy Cup glory by 2025 'would be a failure', Ryan noted following his appointment as successor to Kieran Kingston. Advertisement 1 Pat Ryan believes he will have failed as Cork boss if they don't win the All-Ireland Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile The decider against Tipperary marks the end of the three-year term he was handed ahead of the 2023 season and the Cork boss insisted: 'I won't back away from stuff I've said. 'You'll be judged by other people but my judgement as a Cork person, as a person who's played, as a person who's watched games and been involved in going to matches when we won All-Irelands in the 90s and the 80s, that's what's expected. I think that's the expectation when you take on the job — that you're going to win All-Irelands. 'If you don't, I suppose failure, is it the right word? 'It's probably a harsh word at times. But it's true . . . you have to win All-Irelands if you're going to be the Cork manager. It's as simple as that. You don't shy away from that.' Advertisement Read More on GAA Having guided Cork to back-to-back Under-20 titles before taking the top job, Ryan has overseen the transition of talented youngsters such as Ciarán Joyce, Shane Barrett, Brian Hayes and Alan Connolly. A member of the 1999 panel who won the All-Ireland under Jimmy Barry-Murphy, he aims to guide his county to their first senior crown in 20 years. But when asked about his future in the hotseat, Ryan said: 'The outcome might reflect what the county board feel, do you know what I mean? 'From my point of view, I hate terms, I think it should be a one-year term and you do your best. If you want to stay on, do your best again. Advertisement Most read in GAA Hurling 'At the end of the day, I'm an amateur person doing an amateur job. I don't have any contract. I can walk away at any stage and the county board can move me on at any stage. It's what my family want to do, my energy, whether the lads want to stay on, it's about the group. 'I've been very consistent and I've said to the lads before, 'If you're not making things better, you get out of the way', because there are loads of brilliant people in Cork who want to be in my position and deal with the brilliant players that I have. 'Easiest interview I've ever had' jokes RTE GAA host after pundits go back and forth before Meath vs Donegal 'If you're not moving the needle along closer to where we want to get to — which is the ultimate, winning the All-Ireland — you just can't hog the job, for want of a better word.'
The 42
03-06-2025
- General
- The 42
Pat Ryan: 'Some of our own people writing off Limerick. Are they off their game?'
PAT RYAN MANAGES as he played: the focus always on a job well done with minimal fuss, rather than actively seeking out the limelight. Throughout his tenure as Cork boss, Ryan has referenced the need to 'represent the jersey', cognisant of the tradition he has inherited and the expectations that come with that. Last July, Ryan's side went toe-to-toe with Clare for 90 minutes as they sought to end what at the time was a 19-year wait for an All-Ireland SHC. This time around, they have the Allianz HL title already banked and will contest Saturday evening's Munster final against Limerick. Certainly, Cork hurling has been taken to a good place under Ryan's stewardship but, such is the nature of the fervour on Leeside, the hype can quickly be ramped up. Little wonder then, that, when asked about the hysteria in the wake of the league final – which included a bookmaker paying out on Cork as All-Ireland champions – Ryan's response bordered on incredulity. 'To be honest, we weren't talking about it inside here but it's hard because fellas are amateur athletes,' he says. 'They're going into work, you're hearing it. I'm not on social media, [but] fellas are seeing it on social media. There's text messages going around, there was even one came to my phone about Saving Private Ryan at one stage. Advertisement 'A fella sent that to me on the Sunday morning before the [Limerick round-robin] match and I was thinking, 'What the…?!' 'You get on with that, don't get me wrong, I know that's the game we're in now as well – that's why we had a media night tonight, we feel we need to promote the games. 'Fellas want to hear and read about the matches – I loved reading about the matches myself when I wasn't involved – that's why we do it but from my point of view, I thought some of it was rubbish. 'The really annoying thing was some of our own people writing off Limerick. Are they off their game?! 'That's only setting us up for a fall. They're things that fellas pin to dressing rooms and that couldn't be further from the truth. We try to be as humble as we can. That's what we try to do in Cork. 'There was a thing written ages ago around the football thing, which I'd say John Cleary here hates it, this thing about 'Corkness.' It drives me mad when I hear that thing. What's Corkness? 'It's about representing the jersey as best we can instead of that and I don't think that's right, but look it's from my point of view, I just thought a lot of it was wrong. 'Even about Paddy Power paying, that was only a gimmick and a stunt and wrong for a betting company to be doing that for amateur athletes, putting them under that pressure.' The hype wasn't dampened so much as soaked by the 16-point loss at TUS Gaelic Grounds two weeks ago, meaning Cork go in as underdogs on Saturday as Limerick chase a seventh straight Munster title. For Ryan, the key objective is to perform far better than in the first game. 'What I would say is if you lose by five or six points, you can say we were tired or the three-week break or we had a long campaign coming off the league final,' he says. 'But, when you get hammered like that, you just look at it systemically, where was that attitude from and we just left them hurl all over the field. 'It was a puzzling one and I probably look back on my own role, maybe I didn't go after them enough. Maybe I wasn't driving the standard over the last couple of weeks and maybe a small bit of complacency slipped in in that we were going well enough but look, obviously, Limerick were well prepared. 'They had a lot of stuff right on the day, as they always do. You can see that was a game they had really targeted since we beat them in the All-Ireland semi-final. 'Our job is to make sure we're right the next day.'
The Irish Sun
03-06-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Pat Ryan vows redemption as Cork bid to bounce back from Limerick mauling in Munster final rematch
PAT RYAN felt the attitude of his players in their 'embarrassing' defeat to Limerick was unacceptable. And the Advertisement 2 Cork manager Pat Ryan has urged to bounce back in their rematch against Limerick 2 Cork and Limerick face one another in the Munster final on Saturday However, Ryan has vowed that the Rebels will give a much better account of themselves when the teams meet again in Saturday evening's Cork are set to contest their first provincial decider since 2018, despite being blown away during the round-robin phase by a Limerick side chasing a seventh straight Munster title. Reflecting on the 3-26 to 1-16 defeat, Ryan remarked: 'It was a puzzling one and I probably look back on my own role. Maybe I didn't go after them enough. 'Maybe I wasn't driving the standard over the last couple of weeks and maybe a small bit of complacency slipped in as regards we were kind of winning matches and going well enough. Advertisement READ MORE ON GAA 'But obviously Limerick were well prepared. They had a lot of stuff right on the day, as they always do. You could see that was a game they had really targeted since we beat them last year in the All-Ireland semi-final.' Cork, who romped to National League glory in April, were subjected to a sobering loss at the TUS Gaelic Grounds by a Limerick team who showed scant regard for the opposition's then-status as All-Ireland favourites. For John Kiely's men, who the bookies now fancy to reclaim the Liam MacCarthy Cup, it was sweet revenge for the defeat last summer that ruined their bid for an unprecedented five in a row. Acknowledging his team was 'ill-prepared to what we were facing', Ryan — whose side scored Cork's lowest Championship tally since 2016 that day. Advertisement Most read in GAA Football He said: 'Your standard has to be your standard around your attitude and your effort. "That wasn't what our standard has been over the last three years that we've been here. That was the most disappointing thing. 'Like something out of the French Revolution' - RTE GAA pundit Donal Og Cusack slams Dublin star's reckless swipe 'We let down our fans. Losing to Limerick is never embarrassing but losing to any team in that manner is embarrassing.' While a Limerick win was by no means an upset, the resounding manner in which they were beaten was an eye-opener for Cork. The manager is sure they will be far better this weekend. Advertisement Ryan added: 'We felt that we had got out of that situation where we wouldn't be putting in that kind of a bad performance. "Maybe I took my eye off the ball on that, but I can guarantee you we'll be able to perform. 'Complacency is probably the wrong word because there's never complacency against Limerick. 'It was more, 'Yeah, we're going grand' — that kind of attitude. Things are moving along grand and that kind of thing. Advertisement 'You need to be on it. We need to be physical, aggressive and really going at it and, in fairness, we weren't going at it that day.' Cork rebounded to beat Waterford and earn a chance to set the record straight this weekend. But significant improvement will be required if they are to collect their second piece of silverware in 2025. Ryan said: 'When you put on that Cork jersey, it has to mean something to you. We've been saying that all the time. From our point of view, it wasn't acceptable. Advertisement 'We talk about the fans all the time and that's one thing. But at the end of the day, it wasn't acceptable for our group, it wasn't acceptable for their parents, their families, their friends. 'They're the people you're playing for all the time. People are spending big money to get up there and support us and we need to make sure we're honouring that.' In the aftermath of the win over Waterford, Ryan expressed the belief that there were 'twisted' motives behind some of the pre-Championship hype around Cork. A series of impressive displays en route to claiming National League honours prompted some observers to suggest a first All-Ireland title in 20 years was becoming increasingly inevitable for Ryan's side. Advertisement ALL TALK Speaking at a press event arranged by Cork in advance of the Munster final, the gaffer said: 'We weren't talking about it inside here but it's hard because fellas are amateur athletes. "They're going into work, you're hearing it. 'I'm not on social media. Fellas are seeing it on social media. 'There are WhatsApp groups, text messages going around. There was even one that came to my phone about Saving Private Ryan. A fella sent that to me on the Sunday morning before the match. Advertisement 'And I was thinking, 'What the . . . ?' You just get on with that. 'Don't get me wrong, I know that's the game we're in now as well and it's brilliant. 'That's why we had a media night. Some people don't have it but we like to have it. I think we're here to promote the games. 'Fellas want to hear and read about the matches. I loved reading about the matches myself when I wasn't involved. That's why we do it but from my point of view, I thought some of it was rubbish. Advertisement "The really annoying thing was some of our own people writing off Limerick. Are they off their game? That's only setting us up for a fall. 'They're things that fellas pin to dressing rooms and that couldn't be further from the truth. We try to be as humble as we can.' Before Cork began their Championship campaign with a rematch of last year's All-Ireland final against Clare, one bookmaker even paid out on the 2024 runners-up going all the way in 2025. Ryan insisted: 'That was only a gimmick and a stunt and wrong for a betting company to be doing that to amateur athletes, putting them under that pressure.' Advertisement Twenty days removed from their 16-point hammering in Limerick, Cork will return to the same venue to face the only team ever to win six consecutive Munster crowns. When he reminds his players that to be forewarned is to be forearmed, Ryan knows that they cannot afford to allow the advice to fall on deaf ears. He added: 'I had told the lads we were going to get an unbelievable version of Limerick on that day. Maybe they didn't believe us –— but they know now.'
