ASK JASON RYAN if he was on a hiding to nothing in taking on the job as Ballygunner manager, what with their three Munster titles in the last four years and their 12 consecutive Waterford titles, and you can actually hear the eye-roll at the other end of the call.
“I dunno,” he grimaces.
“You can look at it in different ways. For me, I suppose it is an opportunity to work with a high-performing team.
“They have been consistently performing at an elite level. They are a dedicated group and it is nice working with them. They are a club team that behaves in many ways like an intercounty team would.”
They are coming up against another serious group of operators in Cork champions Sarsfields (Sunday, Azzuri Walsh Park, 1.15pm).
The bookies have Ballygunner priced up warm favourites, which has amused many on Leeside, especially in light of Sars’ 3-20 to 2-19 win last year.
Ballygunner are not without their concerns, but in Ryan, they have a very fresh voice leading them. Living in Waterford, he’s just five minutes away from the ground, with his son playing underage hurling there.
“And it’s on my doorstep! I’m not travelling crazy distances around the place,” he laughs.
And that’s kind of the point that many would be driving at. Ryan is a young man yet, but in the popular imagination, he might have slipped off the radar after his spells in charge of Wexford and Kildare footballers.
It’s more nuanced than that, of course. He’s been in with Keith Rossiter and the Wexford hurlers for two years. He’s been coaching developments squads. He even joined up with Shane Keegan when he was in charge of Wexford Youths to deliver a programme to get them ready in pre-season.
But taking Ballygunner is a return to the big time, nonetheless.
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The question is, how much can you do with such a settled and road-hardened team? Tinker away, or let them tear on? That is the question.
“I think with any of these groups that have athletes performing at a high level, they are very astute and have a really good understanding of the game,” answers Ryan.
“They become your indicators and barometers. We all use Google Maps to get from place to place, but the players are the indicators that tell us where we are going, what’s working, what’s not working.
“I am lucky in that there are really good people in the backroom team, but the biggest thing is the players, that they are forthcoming and they see their strengths and areas that they need further growth.
“I listen to them. The longer I have been coaching or involved in teams, the more you listen to the players, you get more accurate in the work you actually do with them.”
And he has been at this a long time. He was merely 31 when his work in bringing Clongeen to a county title led to him taking over Wexford in late 2007, staying until 2012.
Ryan when he took over Wexford at the age of 31. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
When he started, he and Suzanne weren’t long married. In September 2008, just weeks after he shocked the country by bringing Wexford to an All-Ireland semi-final, losing to eventual winners Tyrone, they had a baby daughter, Aoibhe.
Thirteen months later, his son Joss arrived. The workload for years was insane.
He stepped down at the end of 2012. He intended to go back playing football and hurling for his club, but on his first night back training, he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.
“It was a combination of family, and time and job and different things,” he says of his mini-break.
We say mini-break, because one year later he joined Kieran McGeeney to be his number two in Kildare, eventually taking over when McGeeney was ousted on a county board vote.
“I know how much of a time commitment it is to manage at senior intercounty. Other people maybe going into it, they think, ‘Yeah, it’ll be busy,’ or whatever,” says Ryan.
“But it’s absolutely mental. I’ve been involved with Keith Rossiter with the Wexford senior hurlers for the last two years and the workload there, compared to what Keith would do as manager, it is chalk and cheese. It doesn’t bear comparison.
“I suppose it is nice to be involved at some level of sport where you are learning. That was the attraction of being with the likes of Wexford Youths. I am out of my comfort zone and I am in an environment that is going to challenge me in a different way and I am going to be learning as I go.”
A lot of coaches talk about learning — or worse, ‘the learning piece’ — and you don’t buy it. With Ryan, it feels a little different. He is one of those rare birds that have looked at the GAA from a 360 degree perspective, having played in a number of countries.
It’s well known that he went to London to study PE in St Mary’s Strawberry Hill and eventually played for the county. It’s less well-known that by the time he went over, he was eligible for, and played, minor club football for Tara.
At college, he fell in with Niall Lynch of Virginia, Cavan and the two went to play for Tara.
It was there that he first met Proinnsias Redican, the Saville Row tailor who made jackets for The Beatles and lectured in the London School of Fashion, but was more at home easing the way of young lads trying to make their way in London, guiding their progress and keeping them knitted tight into the fabric of Tara.
He was the only lad on that minor team that wasn’t London-born, but when they won a senior championship in 2003, they had Cockney accents in Paul Kerrigan in goal, full-back Mick Liston, and the Hehir brothers, Paul and Senan, who were faithful servants of London but who also went back to play for their ancestor’s place of Clare.
They produced some queer looks from the superstars of An Gaeltacht when they met each other in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
Last year, he couldn’t have been any more delighted to see his old mentor McGeeney finally deliver Armagh’s second All-Ireland.
“Thrilled. He’s exceptional. I learned so much there during that time,” he says.
On the sidelines for Ballygunner. Tom Maher / INPHO
Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO
“It was really informative but there were lots of things that were happening that might not stand out as reasons for what ultimately happened. It took time for me to reflect on it, to see the benefits of small things happening, to produce something down the line.
“So I can absolutely see why he has the longevity to be able to continue working with a group which is very different to lots of other people who are involved with elite GAA or soccer teams.
“You have a certain shelf life, a certain window, and you have to get the results in that window or you are going to lose those players.
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“The players in Kildare, they had huge belief in Kieran. Huge loyalty. I was absolutely delighted to see the success he had with Armagh.”
He’s different from McGeeney though. McGeeney joined the Armagh minors in 1987, though was dropped before that summer’s championship.
Thirty-eight years later, he has never been outside the intercounty bubble; not one season, not one year.
And throughout it, he has been the subject of constant assessment and judgement, some of it vicious.
Ask Ryan for his insight and he applies that logic again.
“But when you are coaching, who do you need to listen to? The players,” he says.
“It’s knowing that. When you know your players are engaging with you – and you know when they are and you certainly know when you aren’t – then if somebody has any level of emotional intelligence, you know when you have your audience.
“That’s ultimately what so much of it comes down to.”
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'They are a club team that behaves like an intercounty team' - Jason Ryan on Ballygunner
ASK JASON RYAN if he was on a hiding to nothing in taking on the job as Ballygunner manager, what with their three Munster titles in the last four years and their 12 consecutive Waterford titles, and you can actually hear the eye-roll at the other end of the call.
“I dunno,” he grimaces.
“You can look at it in different ways. For me, I suppose it is an opportunity to work with a high-performing team.
“They have been consistently performing at an elite level. They are a dedicated group and it is nice working with them. They are a club team that behaves in many ways like an intercounty team would.”
They are coming up against another serious group of operators in Cork champions Sarsfields (Sunday, Azzuri Walsh Park, 1.15pm).
The bookies have Ballygunner priced up warm favourites, which has amused many on Leeside, especially in light of Sars’ 3-20 to 2-19 win last year.
Ballygunner are not without their concerns, but in Ryan, they have a very fresh voice leading them. Living in Waterford, he’s just five minutes away from the ground, with his son playing underage hurling there.
“And it’s on my doorstep! I’m not travelling crazy distances around the place,” he laughs.
And that’s kind of the point that many would be driving at. Ryan is a young man yet, but in the popular imagination, he might have slipped off the radar after his spells in charge of Wexford and Kildare footballers.
It’s more nuanced than that, of course. He’s been in with Keith Rossiter and the Wexford hurlers for two years. He’s been coaching developments squads. He even joined up with Shane Keegan when he was in charge of Wexford Youths to deliver a programme to get them ready in pre-season.
But taking Ballygunner is a return to the big time, nonetheless.
The question is, how much can you do with such a settled and road-hardened team? Tinker away, or let them tear on? That is the question.
“I think with any of these groups that have athletes performing at a high level, they are very astute and have a really good understanding of the game,” answers Ryan.
“They become your indicators and barometers. We all use Google Maps to get from place to place, but the players are the indicators that tell us where we are going, what’s working, what’s not working.
“I am lucky in that there are really good people in the backroom team, but the biggest thing is the players, that they are forthcoming and they see their strengths and areas that they need further growth.
“I listen to them. The longer I have been coaching or involved in teams, the more you listen to the players, you get more accurate in the work you actually do with them.”
And he has been at this a long time. He was merely 31 when his work in bringing Clongeen to a county title led to him taking over Wexford in late 2007, staying until 2012.
When he started, he and Suzanne weren’t long married. In September 2008, just weeks after he shocked the country by bringing Wexford to an All-Ireland semi-final, losing to eventual winners Tyrone, they had a baby daughter, Aoibhe.
Thirteen months later, his son Joss arrived. The workload for years was insane.
He stepped down at the end of 2012. He intended to go back playing football and hurling for his club, but on his first night back training, he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.
“It was a combination of family, and time and job and different things,” he says of his mini-break.
We say mini-break, because one year later he joined Kieran McGeeney to be his number two in Kildare, eventually taking over when McGeeney was ousted on a county board vote.
“I know how much of a time commitment it is to manage at senior intercounty. Other people maybe going into it, they think, ‘Yeah, it’ll be busy,’ or whatever,” says Ryan.
“I suppose it is nice to be involved at some level of sport where you are learning. That was the attraction of being with the likes of Wexford Youths. I am out of my comfort zone and I am in an environment that is going to challenge me in a different way and I am going to be learning as I go.”
A lot of coaches talk about learning — or worse, ‘the learning piece’ — and you don’t buy it. With Ryan, it feels a little different. He is one of those rare birds that have looked at the GAA from a 360 degree perspective, having played in a number of countries.
It’s well known that he went to London to study PE in St Mary’s Strawberry Hill and eventually played for the county. It’s less well-known that by the time he went over, he was eligible for, and played, minor club football for Tara.
At college, he fell in with Niall Lynch of Virginia, Cavan and the two went to play for Tara.
It was there that he first met Proinnsias Redican, the Saville Row tailor who made jackets for The Beatles and lectured in the London School of Fashion, but was more at home easing the way of young lads trying to make their way in London, guiding their progress and keeping them knitted tight into the fabric of Tara.
He was the only lad on that minor team that wasn’t London-born, but when they won a senior championship in 2003, they had Cockney accents in Paul Kerrigan in goal, full-back Mick Liston, and the Hehir brothers, Paul and Senan, who were faithful servants of London but who also went back to play for their ancestor’s place of Clare.
They produced some queer looks from the superstars of An Gaeltacht when they met each other in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
Last year, he couldn’t have been any more delighted to see his old mentor McGeeney finally deliver Armagh’s second All-Ireland.
“Thrilled. He’s exceptional. I learned so much there during that time,” he says.
“It was really informative but there were lots of things that were happening that might not stand out as reasons for what ultimately happened. It took time for me to reflect on it, to see the benefits of small things happening, to produce something down the line.
“So I can absolutely see why he has the longevity to be able to continue working with a group which is very different to lots of other people who are involved with elite GAA or soccer teams.
“You have a certain shelf life, a certain window, and you have to get the results in that window or you are going to lose those players.
“The players in Kildare, they had huge belief in Kieran. Huge loyalty. I was absolutely delighted to see the success he had with Armagh.”
He’s different from McGeeney though. McGeeney joined the Armagh minors in 1987, though was dropped before that summer’s championship.
Thirty-eight years later, he has never been outside the intercounty bubble; not one season, not one year.
And throughout it, he has been the subject of constant assessment and judgement, some of it vicious.
Ask Ryan for his insight and he applies that logic again.
“But when you are coaching, who do you need to listen to? The players,” he says.
“It’s knowing that. When you know your players are engaging with you – and you know when they are and you certainly know when you aren’t – then if somebody has any level of emotional intelligence, you know when you have your audience.
“That’s ultimately what so much of it comes down to.”
He has his audience.
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Ballygunner GAA Hurling Jason Ryan Meet the new boss