TJ Ryan - Liam Cahill's most trusted lieutenant

Selector TJ Ryan is the longest remaining confidante of the Tipperary manager going back to his very first managerial job with the minor hurlers in 2014.

By Shane Brophy

When you think about Liam Cahill and his right-hand man, many would immediately think of coach Mikey Bevans. However, selector TJ Ryan is the longest remaining confidante of the Tipperary manager going back to his very first managerial job with the minor hurlers in 2014.

The Clonoulty/Rossmore clubman is now in his eighth year working with Liam Cahill on Tipperary teams, four years with the minors, two at under 20/21 and now in his second year with the seniors.

“I got to know Liam when I brought him into train the senior team in Clonoulty in 2011 when I was manager,” Ryan revealed and not even he would have thought that link would take him to here.

That first minor campaign in 2014 was a steep learning curve for Cahill, suffering heavy championship losses to Limerick and Clare, a Tipperary team from whom only Willie Connors and Alan Tynan are part of the current senior squad ten years on.

However, from that poor start came a hugely successful five year run that resulted in three All-Ireland titles at three different grades.

“He learned a lot in terms of what was needed and the type of player that was needed to wear the Tipp jersey,” Ryan said of Cahill’s development as a manager.

“The whole thing changed the following year and he brought in Mikey Bevans as coach and from there we stepped it up, we got beaten in the minor All-Ireland in 2015 and won it in 2016. The minor in 2017 was a great competition and we had two fierce battles with Cork in the Munster semi-final, but they won and went onto reach the All-Ireland where Galway beat them.”

That minor management, along with John Sheedy, moved up to under 21 level for 2018 when they upset the odds to win the All-Ireland Final against Cork, despite suffering a heavy loss to the same opposition in the Munster Final six weeks previous. However, that turnaround show how adept Cahill is at making changes if something isn’t working.

“We definitely shored it up with a bit more muscle,” Ryan said with the likes of Eoghan Connolly and Robert Byrne coming into the team.

“Not saying anything against the players that played in the Munster Final, but we learned you need a certain amount of physicality if you are going to progress.

“There were personnel changes and positional switches, such as Brian McGrath moving back to full back after being centre back at minor.”

Tipp won the All-Ireland Under 20 title in 2019 before Cahill & Bevans decided to test themselves in the senior arena by taking over in Waterford where they reached an All-Ireland final in their first year and won a National League in 2022 before things unravelled in the championship.

Liam Cahill had intimated he would be staying on in Waterford but when the Tipperary job opened up for a second time in the space of twelve monthsin 2022, he couldn’t turn it down again, and once again turned to Ryan to come back on board as a selector.

“I always kept in touch with him (with Waterford) and chatting about different teams and so I said I would give it a go,” Ryan said of getting involved once more.

“It is a fair commitment, a lot different from underage, particularly in terms of time, there is probably double the amount of time to put into it, 4-5 nights a week between training, and the gym, and having meetings ourselves. It is heavy going but either you are in it or out of it.”

Having been away from Cahill and Bevans for three years, TJ Ryan is ideally placed to see how they had changed in terms of their management approach in their time with Waterford.

“They are way more professional,” he revealed.

“Particularly in terms of the make-up of the back-room team. In terms of my role, I would be tasked with travelling around to see more club games and college games in terms of putting a panel together.”

While many within the Tipperary panel and management can hide away from the general public between games, TJ Ryan cannot, as along with his son Aaron, they run a family butchers in Dundrum.

“Every second person coming in is nearly talking hurling,” he laughed, including hints of who should be in the team.

“The general public are great. Tipperary people in general are great supporters, financially and supporting the team in the day they don’t let you down, most of them have the best interests in the team at heart.”