Ladies Gaelic Football

FEATURE 6 | SPRING 2021 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie It was, in Dwyer's eyes, those little things that set Ryan, who had a love of all things Gaelic Games, apart. It was the selflessness, putting others before himself. "He had a connection with people," Dwyer says. "We might be training and a young lad might be passing with his mother. He'd go the small, white car and pull out a sliotar for the young fella. It could be two minutes before he started a session." "And his connection with players…they had massive loyalty to him. He was very humble and girls going around with big heads would never be tolerated." Not that it was ever like that with Cork, Dwyer stresses. The complete opposite, in fact. "Sunday mornings…Frankie (Honohan) would bring his stove and the most incredible soup and scones," Dwyer smiles. "There was a real sense of everyone being humble and normal. People would sit down after a real hard training session, still in their gear, and eat together and have a laugh." Mary Collins was Cork senior team manager in 2004 when Ryan came on board as coach. She remained as manager until 2008, when Ryan took over that role. Collins remembers that Ryan "had very little knowledge of Ladies Football" when he joined the Cork set-up. But he quickly got to grips with the local scene, and Collins recalls a coach who "was brilliant to identify a player's weakness – and to get that person to work on that weakness." It could be that a player was weak on her left leg – and she'd work on that for the week. "He brought the players along that way," Collins nods. And even after Collins stepped away from the Cork set-up, Ryan, in typical fashion, kept in touch. "Eamonn was the kind who took a huge interest in everybody, including their families. "My own son played hurling and football – he'd see the result in the papers and ring you about it. A fantastic person. "I was very fond of him – and every player was very fond of him. But he knew his boundaries – he never got friendly with the parents. He knew a distance to keep and there were no favourites then." And that's how Ryan operated. Honest to a fault, no agendas, no ulterior motives. Just Eamonn – the man revered, loved and now, sadly missed, by so many. bit effort to talk to me. But we often spent a half an hour on the phone. "A lot of happy memories…we went for a holiday in 2006 to Lanzarote and it was a mighty holiday – he was in fierce form, singing and telling jokes and everything, and we still trained every day." Kieran Dwyer's journey with Ryan began in 2007. Dwyer freely admits that he knew nothing about Ladies Football but Ryan was aware of Dwyer's coaching capabilities. Dwyer accepted an invitation to link up with the Cork set-up for the closing stages of the 2007 campaign – and was there until 2015. Why Ryan chose Dwyer, a goalkeeping coach, was because he had noticed a trend where Ladies Football goalkeepers were at risk of being lobbed from distance. Elaine Harte, Cork's goalkeeper at the time and one of the best in the business, wasn't particularly tall but Ryan had huge trust in his netminder and entrusted Dwyer with the job of improving her, along with the other goalkeepers involved with the Cork squad. And what Dwyer was particularly impressed by was Ryan's insistence that the goalkeepers would get dedicated time to hone their craft, before becoming involved in the wider group work. "A couple of months before he died, he was going to the hospital for treatment," Dwyer remembers. "And he said 'Kieran, I have a sliotar for Alex', my eight-year-old. "He spent time organising this for my young lad. This was September, when he was starting to deteriorate." A LOT OF HAPPY MEMORIES…WE WENT FOR A HOLIDAY IN 2006 TO LANZAROTE AND IT WAS A MIGHTY HOLIDAY – HE WAS IN FIERCE FORM, SINGING AND TELLING JOKES AND EVERYTHING, AND WE STILL TRAINED EVERY DAY. Image Right: Manager Eamonn Ryan speaks to his 2015 All Star team at half-time.

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