*Éire Óg’s Dean Ryan. Photograph: Mike Brennan
THERE WAS an extra sense of delight with Éire Óg lifting the Jack Daly on Sunday as it marked the first senior championship won by ex Clare footballer Dean Ryan.
Having been based in the capital during Éire Óg’s wins in 2021 and 2022 when he was lining out with Na Fianna, Dean returned to the club colours last season after a four year stint with the Dublin club.
Prior to Sunday, his favourite sporting moment as listed in the match programme was Éire Óg’s surprise win over Sixmilebridge in the U21A hurling final of 2010 when he played midfield on the Kevin Brennan captained side that saw Davy O’Halloran give a man of the match display at corner forward.
A member of the Clare senior football side for seven seasons of Colm Collins’ ten year tenure, he had previous experience of county final day as a member of the 2014 Éire Óg side defeated by the Collins managed Cratloe 2-12 1-11 as they claimed the first senior championship double in Clare in 85 years.
Cratloe again provided the pain with an agonising defeat on penalties in last year’s semi-final which deprived Dean of a fairytale return to club football in Clare as it dumped the favourites out of the championship.
While the wait for success may have been delayed by twelve months, he was sure to absorb every second on Sunday. “Seventeen years in the making not that I’m counting, it was sweet,” he told The Clare Echo.
This year he started every championship game up until the semi-final when Éinne O’Connor returned to the first fifteen. “It speaks to the strength of the panel, I always knew the competition for places throughout the year was extreme, lads put their shoulder to the wheel and it is next man up so you just have to be ready, I got my chance today and other people didn’t. Aaron (Fitzgerald) mentioned in his speech that it is a thirty something man squad, that is how we got over the line, every man counts and has a role to play”.
From when he joined Na Fianna in 2019 to returning to Éire Óg in 2023, the Ennis club has become the top football side in the county, a key reason for this is the influence of manager Paul Madden he maintained. “It is hard to put a finger on it, there is a good crop of talent there, you’ve a good mix of lads playing inter-county too, the set-up that Paul (Madden) has brought since I’ve come back in and from speaking to the lads that were there before, the structure is there and you’re never left wanting for anything, Paul is top class at what he does and he brings the best men in around him, we have the facilities to be the best players we can and that is what makes us effectively who we are which is champions”.
“You get over the line for the first one and it is driving on then, it is hunger every year, last year was a bitter pill to swallow losing on penalties and as Aaron mentioned in the speech that we wanted to go back and rightfully claim what we felt we lost, it was great to get over the line,” he added.
Introduced at half time for O’Connor, there was certainly a difference between watching the opening half and then playing his part for the second. “You’re trying to play from the stands and it is tough in the first half especially in a county final with the buzz, the parade and everything involved in the day so you want to be out there but when the final whistle goes it’s nice to be on the pitch too”.
