TJ Ryan has seen it all in his time by playing, following, coaching and managing Limerick. Having served as a senior selector and Under 21 manager at various points, the Garyspillane man has been the senior manager since 2014 going solo midway that season after Donal O’Grady left following a bizarre issue with the county board. We won’t go into it again but safe to say Henry Martin would get a chapter out of it should he ever decide to write a sequel to his hurling hurt chronicle Unlimited Heartbreak.
For those who don’t know Unlimited Heartbreak, it's the bible of Limerick's drama's and trauma's since they last won the All Ireland in 1973. All are not negative though and there are many different types.
There’s the negative trauma of a whole squad refusing to play in the now lost season of 2010 and the positive drama of some of that squad lifting the Munster Cup in 2013 under John Allen and the next year under Ryan, running Kilkenny to two points in an All Ireland semi final. That set the standard high of what the Green Army expects this season and an average league campaign hasn’t done much to dampen that expectancy. Ryan admits Limerick are not really a league side and that the intensity of Championship is something that suits his side.
A win on Sunday, a third in a row over Tipperary if it happens, will see them reach the Munster final for the third time in row. The last time that happened was from 1994 to 1996 when they won two out of three but lost two All-Ireland finals. The last three seasons has been the most consistent they’ve been in the Championship since and the last time they were this good. Ryan was a lively presence in that team.
The manager does little to hide their ambitions when he’s asked what are their Championship aims are; “the overall aim for us is no different to the overall aim to most teams involved in the Liam McCarthy right now. If you ask me the next 70 minutes is huge. It puts us in the later end of the Championship it puts us in the Munster final which is a huge entity on it’s own so if you asked me right now win the next 70 minutes is huge.”
In 66 meetings in Munster, Tipp lead the standings by ten but if the last two seasons are anything to go by this will be a close encounter and that gap could well be down to nine by around 5.30pm on Sunday. In fact it wouldn’t be a surprise if it ends in an 11th draw between these two.
Listen to Oisin Langan speak to TJ Ryan on the Monday Rewind:
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