Conor Ryan is ideal captain material for Nenagh
By Thomas Conway
Conor Ryan describes himself as a “man of few words”, but when the 29-year-old Nenagh Éire Óg captain speaks, he does so eloquently, and packs meaning into his sentences just like packs wrist into his pucks.
Should Nenagh prevail this Sunday, they will win their second ever county senior hurling title, exactly thirty years after they captured their first and only success so far. Ryan will presumably have to make a speech. He might not be much of a talker, but that part will be no bother to him.
Anyone who has observed Nenagh Éire Óg over the course of the past decade will be familiar with their captain. He has more or less been a perennial presence on the senior team since 2015, gradually maturing from a skilful, punchy corner-back into a commanding general of sorts in the middle third.
Deceptively powerful, Ryan is a decent ball-winner, but his main asset is unequivocally his intelligence. He is a smart guy - his former teachers in the Gaelscoil and Nenagh CBS will testify to that.
Perhaps his on-field intelligence has something to do with his background as a nifty soccer player. Up until his mid-teens soccer was his main sport, he admits, though his inner hurler would eventually come to the surface
“I would obviously have played hurling all the way up along, but I didn’t get really into it until under-16 - that was when I probably would have started to give it priority over everything else,” he revealed.
Part of that shift could probably be attributed to the fact that Ryan was part of a relentlessly successful underage squad with Nenagh Éire-Óg. That team - which also featured names such as Barry Heffernan, James Mackey and Philip Hickey - made the north championship their own personal fiefdom and went on to capture county honours several times. Ryan developed as a player during his underage years, transitioning into the back line and eventually securing a berth on the Tipperary minor team.
“Up along we probably would have won North Championships nearly every year, from under-12 to under-14 to under-16, and then minor we won the county back-to-back,” he added.
“Around under-16 I pushed back into the backs, because I would have been a forward all my life up until then. And being in the backs just suited me, so I kind of kicked on, got on to a few minor teams, got in with Tipp and all that kind of stuff.”
He made the jump to the under 21 squad but couldn’t nail down a starting position. The senior call never came, but Ryan remained a vital cog in a Nenagh team that suffered county final heartache to Thurles Sarsfields in 2015 and then Clonoulty/Rossmore in 2018. Those experiences, painful as they might be to reflect upon, have stood to him. Ryan is embracing the build-up and the excitement this time, something he just couldn’t do in the past.
“I kind of know what it’s about now,” he feels.
“Actually, to be honest, I’m appreciating it more now, because in those early years we were kind of getting to a county final every other year, and you think that’ll keep happening.
“But it’s been seven years now. Whereas in 2018 I was just waiting for those two weeks before the final to go, this time I’m kind of enjoying the run-up and just looking forward to the challenge.”
The blonde-haired defender doesn’t feel any additional pressure being captain. As far as he’s concerned there are “about ten captains on that team”.
He concedes that Loughmore/Castleiney are favourites, and rates them as one of the best club forces that Gaelic games has ever witnessed. You get a sense that history weighs lightly on Conor Ryan and his Nenagh team. Capitulation is not an option. Nenagh are looking for a performance. And if they perform, Ryan might have to make that speech after all.