From Templederry to Croke Park

By Shane Brophy

The work is largely done, now Ger Ryan and his GAA Presidential rivals Derek Kent and John Murphy await how the 282 delegates will vote to determine their fates on day one of the 2026 GAA Congress at Croke Park on Friday night.

When I met the Templederry Kenyons clubman last Friday afternoon, he had completed his final county visit to Laois the night before, speaking at their county board meeting in his quest to secure some or all of their six votes. It was the same at all of the other counties and units he has visited with in recent weeks and months.

“It has been a really good experience; a really interesting experience,” Ryan said of the process of canvassing since throwing his hat into the ring to succeed Jarlath Burns.

“People ask, at times, is this the best way to do things but if you are running for office in any organisation, the people who are the members of the organisation and those who are voting absolutely need to meet the candidates and get an understanding of them, discuss things with them and so on.”

It’s one of the special aspects of the GAA that no matter how big or small a club or a county you come from, you still have the same chance of climbing the ladder, and this is what Ger Ryan has done over the last forty years in the GAA, and indeed in his career where he is currently the CEO of Acorn Life.

A native of Boherclody, Templederry, Ger is the son of Seamus & Bernadette Ryan, and brother to Brendan and Marita. He is married to Maria Maher from Moyne, where he lives with their two daughters, Dearbhla and Orlaith.

“My playing involvement was limited as I wasn’t very good, so I got involved in the early days on the administrative side,” he said of starting out with Templederry Kenyons from where he put his off the field talents to the betterment of the club and association.

“I started out as assistant secretary around 19 or 20 and got to chair the club when I was 25, I was living in Dublin at that stage. Again, it was a great experience at an early age since then to a greater or lesser extent have been involved in administrative roles with the Tipperary Supporters Club in the late 90’s where I was treasurer, secretary and chairman of that organisation for a ten year period.

“I also got involved in the backroom team with the Tipperary senior hurlers at that time when Nicky English was manager, that was through the Supporters Club doing logistics and liaison work for a number of managers, finishing up with Declan Ryan’s term.”

“That was a huge thing to be involved with high performing hurlers was a huge privilege, getting to know fantastic people and made great friends from it, people who are friends to this day,” he said.

During that time, he also became PRO of Tipperary County Board and subsequently Munster Council delegate, going onto become Chairperson of Munster Council from 2022–2025 having previously held the roles of Vice-Chairperson, Chair of Coaching & Games, and PRO.

At national level, Ger has chaired key committees including Medical, Scientific & Welfare, Communications, and currently serves as chairperson of the Central Referees Appointments Committee. He is also Chairperson of the Semple Stadium management committee. You don’t get into such roles without being trusted and having strong leadership characteristics.

“I’d always feel I work well with people, listen to people and collaborate with them which is my general style,” Ryan said.

“That doesn’t mean I am afraid not to lead and make difficult decisions but working with people is when you achieve the best results. If you are part of a team, you’ll do that but when you are responsible for leading a team you have to bring all of that together and determine what is the best course of action, and take that forward to implementation, show leadership and decisiveness in that regard.”

While the GAA is as strong as it has ever been in terms of participation levels right through the levels, it isn’t without its issues which Ryan looks forward to getting his teeth into if he is given the opportunity to become GAA President.

“Overall, I think it is important to say the Association is in a really good state but any organisation as big as ours is going to have change and responding to what is going on in the world,” he added.

“The big areas that are important to me are, firstly is support for our volunteers. The demands we place on volunteers in clubs and counties are arguably more significant nowadays than they ever have, as we have to be really strong on governance, strong on financial management, strong on child protection, all hugely important areas which does require time and effort to do that from our volunteers and avoid overloading them which is something I would like to take forward.

He added: “Taking on the infrastructure challenges, particularly as we face into the world of integration, and engaging with government on a national and municipal level is another area we need to focus on.

“Also, responding to the demographic changes from the demographic report which was very good.

“Then also, developing a sensible and realistic multi-year plan for integration will also be important. Realistically, that is not going to happen (by 2027) so we have to be sensible. A lot of groundwork has been done but equally there is a lot of work to be done. There are a lot of concerns out there, legitimate concerns around finance, facilities, the fixtures program, how do we manage the inter-county teams, and what are the structures needed to make them work, so there is lots to do.”